The UK Accelerated Settlement Taskforce (AST), the EU T+1 Industry Committee (IC) and the Swiss Securities Post Trade Council T+1 Task Force (SPTC) have jointly published a Testing & Readiness Plan as part of preparing the industry ahead of the implementation deadline of 11 October 2027.
As the first of its kind to span all three key jurisdictions – UK, EU, Switzerland – affected by the T+1 requirements, the Plan outlines a framework for market participants and financial market infrastructures to test readiness for the shift. This testing is intended to de-risk the transition before the go-live date.
Publication follows the establishment of a joint Testing & Readiness Workstream by the AST and EU T+1 IC in December 2025.
Because of the level of interconnection between markets in the three jurisdictions, the three taskforces decided that a joint and aligned programme would be a better approach than segregated plans.
T+1 will reduce processing time to some 20% of that currently available under T+2. This demands significant operational changes across the settlement chain, including trade execution through to final settlement. As such, the Plan launched is designed to assist both large and small firms, buy- and sell-side, to understand what is required and how to test against those requirements.
The joint Plan outlines three key messages:
• Automation is a key success factor
• Readiness depends on the readiness of the entire settlement chain of which an entity is a part
• Testing must start now
The Plan outlines a number of recommendations around practical measures to be brought into the testing programmes, including:
• Guiding principles for industry-wide testing, including the importance of starting now using existing BAU test environments
• A testing timeline and logistics framework, including recommended windows for testing providers to open environments
• A de-risking framework drawing on lessons learned from the US T+1 transition, including key metrics firms should assess against
• Trade flow scenarios covering on-exchange and OTC trades, securities lending, repo, FX, and corporate events
• Guidance for Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs) on communicating test environment access
Giovanni Sabatini, chair, EU T+1 Industry Committee, commented: “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.”
Andrew Douglas, chair, UK T+1 Accelerated Settlement Taskforce, commented: “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.”
Florentin Soliva, chair, Swiss Securities Post Trade Council T+1 Task Force, commented: “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.”
The three taskforces will jointly present the plan at public events on 25 March in London and 21 April in Frankfurt. Further industry engagement will continue through roadshows in Athens (24 April) and Prague (26May), alongside a series of targeted webinars for non-EU markets.
A second readiness survey across EU market participants is expected in June.
Commenting further, Charlie Pugh and Ivan Nicora, co chairs of the T+1 Taskforce representing the UK and Europe respectively at Euroclear said: “T+1 is not just about optimising existing processes, some need to be completely reshaped. It’s not about doing the same faster, it’s about doing it differently. This requires time and proper planning. Testing will be critical in order to ensure that firms have implemented the necessary changes to enable them to operate within the compressed T+1 timeline.”
“Ultimately, the success of T+1 requires all firms to be ready, not just some which will only occur through consistent collaboration and shared knowledge across jurisdictions. This framework published today is an essential tool for market-wide testing to begin, and many financial market infrastructures already offer test environments so there’s no need to delay.”
UK Testing Workstream lead, Alex Chow, VP at J.P. Morgan, added: “Today’s launch of the Industry Testing Plan reflects a strong, cross‑jurisdiction collaboration among a broad set of firms, united by a shared objective: accelerating T+1 readiness at both the individual firm-level and at the industry-level ahead of the October 2027 deadline. The aim of this report is to encourage firms of all sizes to scale their implementation now in preparation for the transition deadline. We look forward to continuing this partnership to deliver a disciplined, effective testing phase in the run‑up to go‑live.”
The full Plan can be downloaded here: T+1 Testing Plan
