The Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA) has published a guidance paper to assist buy side traders in their preparations for the advent of T+1 Settlement of US and Canadian equities, which takes effect in May 2024. The “Buy Side Guidance in Preparation for T+1 Settlement” includes a framework of voluntary, non-binding recommendations and was jointly developed by FXPA’s T+1 Settlement and Buy Side working groups.

The key driver behind the effort to create the guidance is the potential for T+1 settlement to increase the chances that transaction funding dependent on FX settlement may not occur in time, especially during busy periods. “Firms should consider the potential increase in operational risk across all aspects of their FX trading processes, including sales, trading, pre-, and post-trade operations, payments, and settlement,” FXPA states in the guidance.

FXPA acknowledges that the introduction of T+1 is not intended to increase FX settlement risk but cautions that there could be unintended consequences if market participants are not fully prepared. “FX Traders should conduct a full review of the scale of the challenge of T+1 for their FX trading businesses, considering trading relationships, credit, operational processes, funding, and settlement. Strategically, this may present an opportunity for firms to review the greater impact of an accelerating settlement cycle across asset classes,” FXPA concludes.

FXPA drafted the guidance to help buy side firms prepare for the transition to T+1 settlement based on feedback from members and guests during a September 2023 roundtable discussion on the impact of T+1 for FX trading that was jointly held with the Global Financial Markets Association’s Global Foreign Exchange Division (GFXD).

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Since 2014, the Foreign Exchange Professionals Association (FXPA) has been representing the collective interests of the institutional FX market to advance a sound, liquid, transparent, and competitive global currency market to policymakers and the marketplace through education, research, and advocacy. Current members include Bloomberg, Cboe Global Markets, CME Group, State Street Global Markets, Euronext, GlobalLink, LSEG, Portware, Singapore Exchange (SGX), Atlassian, CalPERS, Colorado PERA, Eaton Vance, Fidelity International, Insight Investment, Mesirow, and Microsoft. The guidance does not represent the specific individual opinion of any one particular member.

Enquiries:  Julie Ros, Strategic Advisor to FXPA // +1 (646) 468-6550 // jros@fxpa.org