Yesterday, most of the European
equity markets migrated to a trade date plus two (T+2) settlement cycle, with
the exception of Spain, which is slated to adopt the change in Q4 2015, and Germany
which has already been settling trades at T+2 for several years. As an aside, the US remains at T+3.
The Central Securities
Depositories Regulation (CSDR) had mandated that all European Economic Area (EEA)
countries move to T+2 by 1/1/2015, and most countries moved ahead of that
schedule. A list of the countries that
moved include: Austria, Belgium,
Croatia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece,
Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland
and the UK.
October 8th will
be the settlement date for trades placed in these countries on both October 3rd
and 6th, which means that volumes are expected to be higher than
normal, so a seamless transition through advance planning and automation of
processes will be important to avoid failed trades and potential overdraft
charges.