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Andrew Douglas has been appointed as chair of the UK Accelerated Settlement Task Force (AST) to oversee the delivery of a T+1 settlement cycle in the UK.
Speaking after his appointment to Alan Cameron, head of financial institutions and corporates client line advisory at BNP Paribas, Douglas says: “It will undoubtedly be a big project. I suspect this will be the biggest infrastructure project in the UK post trade space for the coming years. I’m looking forward to it.”
Douglas explains that the key challenges for AST are FX, corporate actions, stock lending and to make sure ‘no man is left behind’. He adds that the UK will learn from the United States implementation of the short settlement cycle.
Asked by Cameron how AST will achieve their goals, Douglas says: “The key thing is the technical group, which is now responsible for this next stage. The project has actually been going since January and we've got more than 200 folks involved from 80 different firms from [across] the industry; we’ve got people from buy-side, sell side, custodians, intermediaries, infrastructure. What I need is that continued level of support and commitment to continue, as we work through those issues”.
Last Friday, the AST released their report, chaired by Charlie Geffen, highlighting how a move to T+1 could enhance market resilience, offer cost savings for investors and mitigate risks associated with an extended period between trading and settlement.
Following the report, the UK government gave the greenlight to move the country to T+1 by 2027.
