DTCC affirmed 83.5% of transactions by the DTC cutoff time – 9:00 PM ET on trade date – in April 2024, it has reported.
This figure marks an increase of eight percentage points month-on-month, from a 74.9% affirmation rate in March. With the industry just two weeks away from the T+1 implementation weekend, this signals significant progress, DTCC says.
The affirmation rate for prime brokerage saw the most significant month-on-month increase, rising by nine percentage points to 92%. This is due to continued real-time affirmation implementation by prime brokers, the organisation states
Investment manager auto affirmation rates also increased, up two percentage points from 91% in March to 93% in April. A further 59 investment managers joined the corporation’s institutional trade processing CTM auto affirmation workflow, bringing the total number of firms using the service to 458. Of this cohort, 350 are also able to use CTM’s match to instruct (M2i) workflow.
The (self) affirmation rates for custodians or investment managers remains the lowest of the three, reaching 62% in April. However, a 7 percentage point increase was seen month-on-month. This was the result of TradeSuite ID adoptions by investment manager firms, DTCC claims, with 2140 added so far over 2024.
Advising this group, DTCC says that it “reminds investment managers who will rely on their custodians to handle their affirmations to instruct those custodians according to their cutoff times so that affirmations are received by DTC’s cutoff of 9pm ET on trade date.”
The organisation concluded: “With just a few weeks until the T+1 implementation date, market participants should finalise their preparations, complete end-to-end testing and ensure the completion of operational readiness plans for T+1 weekend. DTCC remains committed to working with individual firms, regulators and key stakeholders towards a smooth, successful transition to T+1 later this month.”
©Markets Media Europe 2024
