About a-team Marketing Services

A-Team Insight Blogs

AFME Publishes Recommendations to Improve CSDR Settlement Rates

Subscribe to our newsletter

The Association for Financial Markets in Europe (AFME) has published recommendations for partial settlement in view of the impending Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR), currently due to come into force in September this year but widely expected to be delayed until February 2021.

The recommendations aim to encourage greater and more harmonised use of partial settlement across the industry as a way of improving settlement rates, and are designed to support the rigorous new CSDR framework, which will introduce penalties for trades that fail to settle – with the goal of lessening the negative impact to firms.

“The increased adoption of partial settlement is one example of how the industry can improve settlement efficiency,” notes Stephen Burton, Managing Director, Post Trade at AFME. “Particularly at a time when the mandatory buy-in regime under CSDR is due to be implemented later this year, improving settlement rates will help to mitigate the possible negative impacts, including reduced liquidity and greater volatility, when investing in European securities.”

The market practice document is aimed at all market participants including buy-side clients, brokers and service providers such as intermediaries, central counterparties, custodians, banks and local agents. They cover three key areas including partial hold and release, auto-partial settlement, and manual partials.

For partial hold and release, AFME recommends that intermediaries provide client support including automated communication and messaging, along with options to opt in or out. For auto-partial settlement, the association highlights that all trading parties and market participants must agree to use, with intermediaries again providing support using ISO/SMPG standards – and that all receipt instructions should be auto-partial enabled, regardless of account structure. The association stresses that manual partials should be the least favoured option, due to inefficiencies around cancelling, resending and re-matching settlement instructions.

To learn more about the impact of CSDR, check back in next week for an in-depth interview with Broadridge’s Paul Clark on just why this upcoming regulation is so important.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Best Practices for Managing Trade Surveillance

The surge in trading volumes combined with the emergence of new digital financial assets and geopolitical events have added layers of complexity to market activities. Traditional surveillance methods often struggle to keep pace with these changes, leading to difficulties in detecting sophisticated market abuses and increased regulatory risk. To address these challenges, financial institutions are...

BLOG

Data Readiness is No Longer Optional for Banks

By Stuart Harvey, Chief Executive of Datactics. In a landscape marked by increasing regulatory scrutiny and accelerating digital change, data has long since shed its role as a by-product of banking operations and is now a critical strategic asset. The speed at which institutions must demonstrate data integrity, quality, and accessibility has made compliance not...

EVENT

Data Management Summit New York City

Now in its 15th year the Data Management Summit NYC brings together the North American data management community to explore how data strategy is evolving to drive business outcomes and speed to market in changing times.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...