The UK’s Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (AST) has announced that it will publish a rolling monthly target settlement rate that will serve as a guide after the industry goes live with T+1 on 11 October 2027.
The target rate will be made available from the beginning of 2027 to give market participants a benchmark even before implementation day. Based on CREST settlement data, every month’s target will be calculated by taking the market average of the three preceding months. This decision is in alignment with recommendation SETT04 in AST’s 2025 Final Report, which states that expectations should be “anchored in real-world market performance and based on CREST settlement data, rather than a predefined or theoretical benchmark”.
AST chair Andrew Douglas says, “Providing a target settlement rate will be an essential north star for the industry to work towards. Ensuring that the market maintains its current settlement success rate once we move into a T+1 world will be a key measurement of the success of the transition overall.”
Sharing a statement on AST’s move with PostTrade 360°, Giovanni Sabatini, independent chair of the EU T+1 Industry committee, believes that the EU should consider something similar: “As usual, we (the EU) have an additional layer of complexity – with multiple CSDs and CCPs – and this type of work requires more time.”
