The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has assessed market readiness for the move to T+1 securities settlement on Oct. 11, 2027, finding that most participants it engaged have met expectations but some remain considerably behind. Firms that have not urgently remediated gaps may be unprepared for the transition, with buy-side readiness and dependence on third-party providers presenting particular concerns. Participants should be well advanced in implementation, finalizing testing plans and preparing to meet the UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce's critical recommendations by the end of December 2026. These include allocating and confirming trades by the end of trade date and adopting the Financial Markets Standards Board standard for sharing standard settlement instructions. Roughly half of the participants consulted already complete trade allocations and confirmations on trade date, while many use centralized matching systems aligned with the settlement instruction standard. Third-party providers are expected to share finalized transition plans and deadlines with clients immediately if they have not already done so. The FCA will adopt increasingly intrusive supervision as October 2027 approaches and may act where participants are inadequately prepared. It will also use forthcoming Euroclear UK and International settlement data to identify poor performance and require affected firms to explain failures and remediation. Buy-side firms are encouraged to establish concrete plans to move fund settlement cycles to T+2 on or before the broader T+1 transition.

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