The EU T+1 Industry Committee, in collaboration with market research firm The ValueExchange, has published its second market-wide readiness survey. The study reveals that overall, market participants in the EU appear to have moved on from planning to the execution phase, signalling a positive direction of development for meeting the T+1 implementation deadline on 11 October 2027.

The survey involved 2284 respondents, covering sectors from settlement to fund share dealing and securities financing. Unlike the previous readiness survey conducted at the end of 2025, this study focused on only firms in the EU, including Sweden, Finland, Germany, and France.

Prepared for action

83% of firms now consider themselves to be actively preparing for T+1, compared to 77% in the previous survey. 58% have an implementation plan in place, which is more than double of what was reported previously. The proportion of firms that have taken no action at all is now down to just 2%.

Large infrastructures, such as CCPs and CSDs, are the most ready, while smaller firms with less than 100 employees are the least ready. CCPs came out on top with 100% implementation planning completed while CSDs rank third at 74%. Pension funds were at the bottom – 65% revealed that their implementation plans will only be in place by the end of Q1 of 2027. This discrepancy among big and small firms is also reflected in the readiness for testing – 77% of tier one firms indicated that they are ready, while only 41% of smaller firms with less than 100 employees indicated the same.

Confidence boost

Concerns about meeting T+1 requirements have dropped across the board – except for one. 64% of firms are now worried about being held back by counterparty and vendor dependencies, compared to 58% in the last survey. On the contrary, apprehension about automation, understanding the requirements, FX, and funding preparations, have all decreased.

Although concerns about automation is seeing a downward trend, it remains one of the main sources of worry for firms, with 73% citing it as a challenge of the transition. Many are behind schedule in automating processes that are essential to operating in a shorter settlement cycle, such as allocations, confirmations, and standing settlement instructions.

Teamwork

The EU T+1 Industry Committee notes that “encouragingly, more than 90% of respondents expect to be operationally ready by go-live”, despite “continued implementation risk in specific workstreams, notably middle office, settlement processing, and certain fund-related activities”.

Giovanni Sabatini, independent chair of the EU T+1 Industry Committee reminds market participants that T+1 is teamwork. “The question is no longer whether Europe will move to T+1 – that date is fixed. The question the industry is now asking is how we all get there together, on the same day, as one market. No institution settles a trade alone, and our collective readiness will ultimately be judged by all firms reaching the summit.”