The government has accepted all recommendations made by the Accelerated Settlement Technical Group, meaning that the UK will move to a ‘T+1’ standard for settling securities trades from 11 October 2027.

The change means that a typical securities trade, such as buying and selling shares, would be settled the day after it is agreed – instead of the current two-day standard.

This is expected to help make the UK’s capital markets more competitive, bringing the UK into line with key international markets such as the US and reducing costs for investors by limiting risks when making trades.

Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced the plans at a breakfast with the "top brass" from the financial services industry, including representatives from JP Morgan, Blackrock, Abrdn, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Fidelity, and Schroders.

Reeves stated: "I am determined to go further and faster to drive growth and put more money into people’s pockets through our Plan for Change. Speeding up the settlement of trades makes our financial markets more efficient and internationally competitive."

The government confirmed that the change is also backed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Bank of England (BoE), with both calling on the industry to engage with the recommendations and start their planning as soon as possible.

FCA CEO, Nikhil Rathi, stated: "We highlighted how the move to T+1 will make our markets more efficient and support growth in our recent letter to the Prime Minister. We will support industry as they move to T+1 and expect firms to engage and plan early."

Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, added: "Shortening the UK securities settlement cycle to T+1 will bring important financial stability benefits from reduced counterparty credit risk in financial markets.

"It is important that firms and settlement infrastructures have robust plans for an orderly transition in October 2027. As part of this effort, the Bank looks forward to continuing dialogue with regulators in other markets which are pursuing similar changes."

The government will now look to bring forward legislation to implement the change, including setting the date to move to the new standard.

Terms of reference have already been published for the next phase of the project, which will continue to be led by the industry taskforce with Andrew Douglas as chair and HMT, the FCA and BoE as observers.

Industry chairs from the EU and Switzerland have also been invited to observe the UK industry taskforce to encourage alignment across Europe.

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