EU T+1 Industry Committee publishes clarification on approach to SSI templates

The EU T+1 Committee has today published an important clarification regarding the EU’s approach to Standing Settlement Instruction (SSI) templates.

The clarification outlines a common European standard, meaning that the FMSB taxonomies and templates for sharing SSIs are deemed compatible with the EEA’s pre-settlement storage and exchange requirements, as is consistent with the UK AST recommendation. Crucially, this update clears up any concerns around misalignment between UK and EU T+1 taskforces.

SSI templates are critical to the T+1 transition, as they reduce the amount of manual settlement data that has to be verified and entered following a trade.

Additional European Economic Area (EEA) field-level guidance for implementing the FMSB templates includes:

• BIC: Mandatory without exception as the instructing-party identifier.
• PSET: A mandatory field in the EEA, in line with SMPG standards.
• SAFE / PSAF: An optional field.
• MIC and ISIN: Optional at the pre-settlement exchange/storage level and to be agreed bilaterally — distinct from downstream at the CSD, where ISIN is mandatory for matching (MIC is not).
• Classification identifier: Needed only if a party wants to split by instrument type, using the highest-level CFI code (e.g. “EXXXXX” for all equities, “XXXXXX” where no split is required).
• Registration: An optional field, applicable only where required by local rules/regulation or specific business needs.

The new guidance also provides greater detail on standards for the storage and exchange of SSIs between trading parties and their intermediaries, making clear that the EU’s approach relates to the exchange and storing of SSIs only, and does not cover the separate process of confirming where securities should actually settle.

Giovanni Sabatini, Independent Chair of the EU T+1 Committee, confirmed, ‘This clarification provides further clarity on standards for the storage and exchange of Standing Settlement Instructions (SSIs) between trading parties and their intermediaries and dispels any concerns of misalignment between the UK and EU on “pre-settlement” SSI standards.’

Andrew Douglas, Chair of the UK AST, welcomed this clarification, commenting that, ‘This is further evidence of the excellent co-operation between the UK and EU taskforces confirming additional standardisation between both jurisdictions and further enhancing the efficiency of cross-border European securities processing.’

Read the full clarification update here.