On the 28th day of this month, the United States trade settlement cycle will be reduced from two business days after trade data (T+2) to one (T+1).
Canada and Mexico will join the U.S. the same week, meaning most of North America will work with a shortened trade cycle.
While the change was announced in February of last year, the debate of when and how dates back until at least the introduction of T+2 in September 2017.
A shortened trade cycle changes the processes companies use around methods and timing of trades, notifications, and recalls. The global centrality of American markets means that this shift’s impacts will be felt internationally.
That is reflected in the press coverage.
So far, at least as much coverage has come from London as from the US – reflecting the specific FX-related challenges. This balance won’t change, though if there are implementation hiccups, perhaps more US trade press will see the need to increase their attention.
Here we attempt a (non-authoritative) list of reporters creating influential material on the transition, from veterans to new faces.
Claudia Preece and Wesley Bray, The Trade
Claudia joined The Trade as a Senior Reporter in May 2023 and primarily reports on trading markets, asset management, and funds.
Speaking to sources from different backgrounds, she has reported on the need for data automation and has highlighted the trends and concerns from a UK standpoint. Earlier this year, Claudia interviewed Google’s Rohit Bhat for an engaging discussion about the impact of T+1 on digital assets.
Wesley Bray has been an Editorial Assistant at the publication since he joined back in 2020.
Wesley has published several quality news pieces surrounding the T+1 settlement, publishing opinions from organizations such as BNY Mellon. Whenever developments arise, Wesley always produces timely and educational piece content for The Trades website.
Sophia Thomson, Global Custodian
Joining the Global Custodian in early 2024, Sophia has already made an impact in the space. She concentrates on the funds and asset management industry, covering how T+1 will impact them.
She has a global perspective, highlighting settlement news from Mexico, the US, and the UK.
Huw Jones, Reuters
A mainstay of the financial regulation media scene, Huw has been the European Regulation Correspondent at Reuters for 15 years through many regulatory cycles, including various interactions of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive or MiFID.
His European-tinged reporting was the first to nail down the likely date for T+1 in the UK – 2027.
Jeremy Chan, Financial News
Jeremy has a Trans-Atlantic focus on regulation as the Trading and Technology Correspondent at Financial News, although his parent publication has largely left America. He arrived from Accountancy Age three years ago.
Jeremy has quoted Neill Penney, group head of FX at LSEG and Mike Robertson, head of consulting at Delta Capita in T+1 stories.
Mark Baker, Euromoney
Mark has been with Euromoney since 2015. He has held numerous positions at the publication as well as Global Capital and International Financing Review (IFR).
In January, Mark published an informative piece on the potential disruption that could be caused following the rush to transition to T+1. The piece posed some key questions and the troubles the UK and Europe may face if they follow the US and move to T+1 too hastily.
Daniel Mohr, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Meanwhile Daniel Mohr, a near 20-year veteran of exchanges and trading coverage at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, has dominated coverage in Germany, with a major piece several weeks ago (interestingly the paper’s rival Handelsblatt has not covered it this year).
Greg Ritchie, Alice Atkins and Kathering Doherty, Bloomberg
This powerhouse trio typically teams up on stories on T+1/
Greg started at Bloomberg in 2019 as a political reporter before becoming the FX & Fixed Income Reporter in 2020.
Greg recently published an informative piece explaining the T+1 reasoning and its impact on markets. While the complex regulatory change has been in the media for a while, pieces explaining why something is happening are rarer and valuable.
Alice was a producer at Bloomberg before re-focusing on emerging markets news and stock market news. She has frequently covered the T+1 news with her colleague Greg Ritchie. She wrote about how Jupiter Asset Management plans to cope with faster US equity settlement.
Ketherine in the finance team in NYC and Lydia Beyoud, the main SEC/CFTC reporter in DC, have led of US institutional markets coverage on T+1.
Laura Matthews, Reuters
In 2022, Laura joined Reuters as a Derivatives and Trading Correspondent following stints at FX Week and Euromoney.
Laura has published important pieces on T+1, especially one in March outlining the problems that may arise for international funds. Her articles on the subject are always detailed and bring in the opinions of important players in the markets globally.
Rick Steves, Finance Feeds
Rick is currently the Managing Editor at Finance Feeds and The Industry Spread.
For Finance Feeds, Rick has published well-sourced articles relating to T+1, with a few pieces looking at the changes’ impact on Foreign Exchange (FX). His pieces always include insights from numerous sources, such as Alex Knight, Head of EMEA at Baton Systems, and James Maxfield, Chief Product Officer at Duco.
Emma Boyde, Financial Times
The FT group originally let its Ignites Europe team lead its coverage, but in recent months Emma Boyde, its ETF news editor, has picked up the pace, with a number of articles particularly allowing securities servicing voices to speak out.
Beyond day one
The challenges of T+1 will mean that this topic won’t disappear. We expect sporadic and ongoing coverage over a number of months, including from some outlets who might have been slow to realise the challenge of the change.
Many companies are behind, and we’ll see how much leeway the regulator gives these stragglers. Then, eyes will turn to Europe and Asia, which have yet to set dates for T+1. Continental European interest has been somewhat sporadic (reflecting smaller editorial teams in some cases), but given the six-hour time difference and the cut-off times, we expect further coverage from the Continent.
We predict many more stories ahead, both from these talented journalists and others.
If your institution has got a T+1 service to sell, and your spokesperson has been in the media, don’t get them to stand down after May 28. If anything, make sure you’ve got good new insights into what is happening as asset managers, especially outside North America, start to live with T+1. And if you’ve got an expert, but they not been in the media much yet, it’s not too late. Get moving with a program for the rest of this year.
Greg Noble is an account executive in London. Andrew Marshall and Sam Barber in our New York office contributed additional material.
