By Amit Kohli, Director of Key Account Management, EMEA

For our final Industry-ledT+1 webinar, I brought together three industry veterans: Andrew Douglas (Chair of the UK T+1 AST Task Force), Andy Dyson (outgoing ISLA CEO), and Andy Hill (Co-Head of Market Practice & Regulatory Policy, ICMA). Their message? If you're treating October 2027 as a compliance deadline, you're already losing.

The gateway drug to digitalisation

Andrew Douglas reframed the conversation: "T+1 is the gateway drug for digitalisation because you won't be able to operate in a digital environment if you don't automate." He's talking about 2030 and beyond, when T+0 and "T+anything" become standard. Andrew's prediction? T+0 implementation within 5 years of T+1.

"What I would prefer is for us to change the dialogue around this project from being a regulatory requirement more towards what do I need to do to remain competitive?"

The $900 billion wake-up call

Andrew dropped a statistic that should focus minds: "$900 billion has been spent in the last 10 years on failed trade penalties and corrections." The most recent year? $96 billion globally in 2023. That's money not going into pension fund performance.

It's really T+0, not T+1

Andy Hill made the critical distinction: "This isn't just a move to T+1 when you look at securities financing, this is a move to T+0." Potentially up to 40% of European government bond repo could move to T+0 settlement. As Andy observed: "You could have a situation in Europe where for government bond markets moving to T+1 is actually an economic loss."

His point about time zones was sobering: "There are 24 time zones. So, T+1 somewhere is T+0 somewhere and T+0 somewhere is actually the day before somewhere else." Fifty percent of US Treasuries traded into Asia do not settle T+1 for practical reasons.

The solution? Andrew Douglas' "T+anything" concept, flexibility to settle based on counterparty needs, not arbitrary deadlines that shut out global investors.

The 83% time compression

Andrew delivered the reality check: "It sounds like you're losing 50% of the processing time. You're not, you're losing 83% because of deadlines and time zones." Post-US implementation, back and middle offices experienced up to 18% uplift in staffing costs. They threw people at the problem instead of automating. In an era where cost optimisation is vogue, justification of hiking FTE counts over slicker technology capability will undoubtedly be questioned.

"There will be winners and losers. The losers will be the people who don't take this seriously."

Standards need adoption

Andy Dyson was pointed about implementation: "The thing about standards is they're really, really great in concept. But we need adoption of a common standard... and then we actually need to implement them. I would expect our member firms to be incorporating settlement metrics in their bilateral discussions. How efficient are you at settlement because inefficient settlement will drive costs?"

Andy Hill agreed: "When things go wrong, you don't have the time to deal with it. You're literally operating within a few hours."

The 2030 Vision

Andrew Douglas: early 2030s for T+0, full tokenisation, digital payment rails.

Andy Dyson: fundamental demand for financing remains, but digital and crypto assets will change the interface.

Andy Hill: hybrid world with tokenised assets becoming standard, driven by CBDC and stable coin rollout.

Your action plan

Near-term (Now to October 2027):

  • Automate recalls, returns, affirmations, margin workflows
  • Adopt behavioural changes that deliver efficiency
  • Engage with ISLA/ICMA working groups

Medium-term (2027-2030):

  • Build for T+0, not just T+1
  • Design for hybrid TradFi/DeFi environments
  • Think "T+anything" flexibility

Long-term (2030+):

  • Prepare for full digitalisation
  • Focus on asset-agnostic solutions

The once-in-a-lifetime opportunity

Andrew Douglas: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rethink how you behave in this marketplace."

The tools exist. The standards are being developed. The regulators are supportive. There is broad market consensus that T+1 can be used to uplift and in some cases overhaul operating models; streamlining processes, bringing historically disparate teams closer together and working in unison. Instilling a one-firm approach, unlocking talent and becoming even more customer centric across the trade lifecycle. The facts remain that the market we operate in is evolving. The question is whether your firm approaches this as a compliance exercise to survive or a dynamic exercise to win in an ever-increasing competitive landscape.

October 2027 isn't the finish line. It's the starting gun.

Get in touch

For questions on T+1 preparation or how Pirum can support your journey to accelerated settlement, contact us here.

Watch the full series: Industry led T+1webinars