Settlement failures: more common and more costly

Market conditions have heightened concerns over the potential cost of failed securities settlement as the world’s largest financial market prepares to move to T+1.

Settlement failure – defined by the Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR) as the ‘non-occurrence of settlement, or partial settlement of a securities transaction on the intended settlement date, due to a lack of securities or cash and regardless of the underlying cause’ – is a big issue for investors and intermediaries.

A report published by Firebrand Research in February estimated that more than $96 billion was spent on resolving failures across the global equities market in 2023 and that the figure for 2025 could surpass the $157 billion spent on dealing with exceptions during 2021.

The cost of settlement fails cannot be swept under the rug any longer

Daniel Carpenter, Meritsoft
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The worry is over an expected spike in settlement failures in the months immediately following the move to T+1, with the US, Canada and Mexico due to make that leap ahead of European and Asian markets at the end of May 2024.

“The cost...

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