SEC Chair White ''Strongly'' Supports Trade Settlement in T+2

SEC Chair Mary Jo White stated that she "strongly support[s]" the recommendations of SIFMA and the Investment Company Institute ("ICI") regarding industry efforts to shorten the settlement cycle for numerous types of securities.

Chair White urged the Industry Steering Committee ("ISC") to continue its efforts examined in its White Paper, "Shortening the Settlement Cycle: The Move to T+2," to shorten the settlement cycle from T+3 to T+2. Chair White encouraged the ISC to (i) build on the high-level Migration Timeline contained in the White Paper and (ii) keep the SEC staff updated with a detailed implementation schedule by December 18, 2015.

In order to provide the market with "timely regulatory certainty" to facilitate the migration to T+2 by no later than the proposed goal of the third quarter of 2017, Chair White noted the following active measures the SEC has taken:

• working closely with the SROs to finalize detailed schedules by October 31, 2015 for the implementation of rule amendments to facilitate the change in settlement cycle; and
• developing a proposal to amend Securities Exchange Act Rule 15c6-1(a)("Settlement Cycle") to generally require trade settlement by T+2.