The UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (AST), the EU T+1 Industry Committee (IC), and the Swiss Securities Post Trade Council T+1 Task Force (swissSPTC) have published a unified Testing and Readiness Plan to guide the European financial industry through its transition to T+1 settlement, targeted for 11 October 2027.
According to Securities Finance Times, the three taskforces were established to oversee and coordinate the move away from the current T+2 settlement cycle, under which trades are settled two business days after execution, to T+1, which compresses that window to just one business day.
The initiative spans the EU, UK, and Swiss financial markets simultaneously — the first plan of its kind to do so — and reflects the deep interconnection between those markets and the significant cross-border participation across all three jurisdictions.
The Testing and Readiness Plan itself provides a practical framework for all market participants and financial market infrastructures (FMIs) to assess and build their readiness ahead of the go-live date. It sets out guiding principles for industry-wide testing, stressing the importance of beginning immediately using existing business-as-usual test environments. It also includes a testing timeline and logistics framework with recommended windows for providers to open environments, and a de-risking framework drawing on lessons learned from the US T+1 transition, complete with key metrics that firms should assess against.
The plan is underpinned by three core factors: that automation is a key success factor; that participant readiness depends on the readiness of the entire settlement chain; and that providers should begin testing now. It also details trade flow scenarios covering on-exchange and OTC trades, securities lending, repo, FX, and corporate events, alongside guidance for FMIs on communicating test environment access. The publication of the plan follows the establishment of a joint Testing and Readiness Workstream by the AST and EU T+1 IC in December 2025.
UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce chair Andrew Douglas said, “As requested by industry participants, we have collaborated with the EU on the launch and implementation of this testing framework. It will help firms to design and execute their own test plan for individual solution components as well as full end-to-end testing. It also clearly shows that testing of the individual components can start now, allowing plenty of time to guarantee a smooth transition to T+1 by October 2027.”
EU T+1 Industry Committee chair Giovanni Sabatini said, “Moving to T+1 is not merely a technical upgrade — it is a pillar of the Savings and Investment Union and a unique opportunity to remove friction from European capital markets. The fact that EU, UK, and Swiss authorities are delivering this together is a demonstration of what practical, functional cooperation can achieve. We are building a bridge, and this testing plan is a critical part of it.”
Swiss Securities Post Trade Council T+1 Task Force chair Florentin Soliva said, “Switzerland’s inclusion in this joint programme reflects our markets’ deep integration with the wider European post-trade ecosystem. A coordinated approach is the only approach that makes sense.”
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