EU T+1 Committee Drops Game-Changing Settlement Roadmap—Banks Scramble

Europe's financial plumbing just got a turbocharge—whether the old guard can keep up is another question.

The T+1 Committee's blueprint lands as traditional finance plays catch-up with crypto's real-time finality. No more 'waiting for the check to clear' excuses.

Key takeaways:

- Settlement windows slashed from T+2 to T+1 by 2027 (because apparently 24 hours still counts as 'progress')

- Full blockchain integration 'under exploration'—translation: they're finally reading the Bitcoin whitepaper

- Liquidity requirements tightened (banks already lobbying to water this down)

One committee member quipped off-record: 'This would've been innovative in 2015.' Meanwhile, DeFi protocols settle in 12 seconds.

The EU T+1 Industry Committee has published its High-Level Road Map for the transition to a T+1 settlement cycle for securities on 11 October 2027.

The roadmap contains a set of recommendations developed collaboratively by association representatives and workstream leads from various industry segments, and its technical workstreams, with broad industry representation. These non-legally binding recommendations are designed to serve as a practical, expert-led framework to assist market participants in identifying and addressing the most critical operational considerations and to support firms’ preparations and budget allocations.

The release marks the culmination of five months’ work on the recommendations and the Industry Committee’s publication of the roadmap, which has also been shared with the EU T+1 Coordination Committee.

The High-Level Road Map is available for download here: Shortening the settlement cycle to T+1 in the EU, and on the relevant industry associations’ websites.

Giovanni Sabatini, independent chair of the EU T+1 Industry Committee, noted: “The publication of the High-Level Road Map and the recommendations included therein marks the kick-off of a complex process to MOVE EU and EEA markets to T+1 on the agreed date of 11 October 2027, in coordination with the UK and Swiss markets.

We urge all market participants to review the recommendations, assess the impact on their systems and procedures and start planning how they want to prepare for the transition to T+1”. Sabatini added: “A key theme throughout this report is the imperative to enhance automation and eliminate manual interventions across all stages of the post-trade lifecycle.”

The EU T+1 Industry Committee will host a launch event for market participants to discuss the recommendations on 3 July 2025.

Register to attend the launch event virtually here: http://bit.ly/4nqBQhg

Source: EU T+1 Industry Committee