Post trade is playing a vital role as Europe looks to strengthen its capital markets. With clearing, settlement, and regulatory reporting continuing to evolve, leaders from SIX take a closer look at what these developments mean, andwhy the organisation is so well placed to respond.
Moving a step closer towards CCP interoperability
If Europe’s capital markets are to thrive, the region’s CCPs must become more competitive.
Speaking at this year’s PostTrade 360° conference in Stockholm, Michael Gort, head of Clearing at SIX, said that closer CCP integration, rather than consolidation, offers the best route to making this happen.
“Equity clearing in Europe is fragmented. While some fragmentation creates choice and promotes healthy competition, it can also prevent scale, netting, and efficiency. The answer is not fewer providers, but intelligent integration, facilitated by interoperability,” he comments.
EU regulators are taking note. As part of the Savings and Investments Union’s (SIU) remit to drive cross-border investment and reduce fragmentation, the EU has put forward the Market Integration and Supervision Package (MISP), which among other things, is looking to encourage greater open access between different CCPs.
While many within the industry have welcomed MISP’s proposals, others, including the Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME), argue the EU should go a step further and make CCP interoperability mandatory.
According to Gort, this is because there are concerns that some of the access models favoured by certain
European exchange groups, such as preferred clearing, are not delivering.
Under preferred clearing, a trade is sent to a financial institution’s CCP of choice, but only if both counterparties to the trade select the same CCP. If the counterparties choose different CCPs, or if one counterparty has not selected a preferred CCP, then the trade will be sent to the trading venue’s designated or incumbent CCP.
“The incentive structure for preferred clearing is wrong, as a big part of the flow typically ends up reverting back to the default CCP, which is preventing markets from becoming more efficient. In contrast, interoperability is a tried-and-tested mechanism, and the evidence shows it supports cross-border equity trading, promotes user choice, reduces settlement costs, stimulates liquidity, and facilitates greater operational resilience,” says Gort.
As industry support for interoperability grows, SIX is well positioned to benefit.
In December 2025, SIX announced it would consolidate its two CCPs – SIX x-clear in Switzerland and Spain’s BME Clearing – into a combined entity, SIX Clearing, based in Madrid, with branches in Zurich and Oslo.
This single CCP will bring together SIX x-clear’s interoperable pan-European cash equity model with BME Clearing’s multi-asset strengths, creating an international, scalable, open, and competitive alternative for clearing across numerous asset classes in Europe. It will also enable SIX to diversify more easily into new asset classes in the future.
Next generation settlement: Europe finds its footing with T+1
With just over one year to go until T+1 goes live in Europe (11 October, 2027), the industry has moved from preparation to execution.
The various industry taskforces have now published their recommendations, so SIX is currently concentrating resources on systems development, delivering automation, and end-to-end testing to ensure T+1 readiness. This comes as a study by The ValueExchange found 58% of financial institutions are now implementing their T+1 plans, which is double what it was six months ago.
Jesus Sanchez, SIX’s head of Transaction Management, Spain, said while the industry often focuses on cost-efficiency, T+1 is forcing firms to place equal attention on time efficiency by increasing automation, enhancing straight-through processing (STP), and removing operational bottlenecks. “Ultimately, this is as much an exercise in operational resilience as it is a settlement cycle reform,” he comments.
But an organisation’s ability to automate its processes is only as strong as its weakest link.
“Automation and dependencies, whether that is internal, counterparty or client, are closely interconnected,” says Sanchez. This echoes findings from The ValueExchange, which revealed that 64% of organisations cited counterparty and vendor dependencies as being a core concern, suggesting third-party readiness remains a major constraint ahead of T+1.
The industry must also make full use of the tools and functionalities already available within market infrastructures and participant systems.
However, Sanchez noted that although adopting partial settlement – one of the EU T+1 Industry Committee’s main recommendations – is a key criterion for CSDs, it should not be seen as a substitute for automation.
“While I support the industry’s embrace of partial settlement, it is not a magic bullet. Partial settlement must be used alongside automation. Data from T2S shows that it does not directly improve the efficiency of instructions eligible for partial settlement, but it can help other instructions settle at the same time,” says Sanchez.
Although the industry is making progress on T+1, the work is by no means complete. Areas such as corporate actions still require further attention, while one speaker noted some of the smaller, non-T2S CSDs in Europe are yet to provide sufficient details on how they intend to comply with T+1.
The double settlement day on 12 October, when T+2 trades from Friday, 8 October, and T+1 trades from Monday, 11 October, settle at the same time, could also create logistical challenges, particularly if trading volumes are high on either or both days, speakers warned.
Sanchez said that preventing disruption on the double settlement day would depend on firms testing their systems for higher settlement and corporate actions volumes, establishing clear governance and resource priorities to manage potential conflicts, and strengthening reconciliation processes.
Through its strong custody, settlement, and post-trade infrastructure, SIX is helping clients navigate the transition to T+1 in Europe.
Regulators rethink reporting in Europe
Efforts to augment regulatory reporting practices in Europe are gaining momentum.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is trying to improve the quality of the industry’s regulatory reporting through the introduction of clear Data Quality Indicators (DQIs) which introduce greater transparency both to reporting firms and regulators alike. This in turn is forcing reporting firms to look at how they can move from reactive remediation to preventative controls, an approach known as “shifting left.” By identifying problems much earlier in the trade lifecycle, firms will be able to correct errors before submitting data to trade repositories (TRs), reducing the number of post-report reconciliations and remediations, and with it, costs.
“A shift left will encourage better first-time reporting by financial institutions to their TRs. Regulators want firms to be reporting accurate data at the point of entry, which is why it is so important to have the controls upfront. Regulators, including ESMA and NCAs, are taking the issue of data quality more seriously,” notes Nick Bruce, head of Business Development at SIX.
ESMA has also issued a call for evidence on simplifying financial transaction reporting across the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR), and the Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR), the outcome of which it hopes will support SIU’s objectives.
“ESMA is proposing a phased approach to the reporting changes. Initially, it is going after some low-hanging fruit, such as removing the obligation to report certain non-material data points. In the medium term, ESMA will likely extend delegated reporting, but the end goal is to amalgamate MiFIR, EMIR, and SFTR into one regulation, a process we anticipate will take around five years to complete,” says Bruce.
If organisations are to deal with these changes, they need to work with providers that offer best-in-class, fully integrated regulatory solutions.
As part of its wider strategic realignment and evolution, SIX is consolidating its trade repository businesses (REGIS-TR, SIX TR) and data reporting services (BME Regulatory Services) into a single, pan-European offering, covering multiple asset classes, markets, and regulations, including EU/UK EMIR, SFTR, FinfraG, and MiFIR.
From clearing through to settlement and regulatory reporting, SIX offers clients a one-stop-shop service, as they adapt their operating models in this fast-shifting regulatory environment.