The Investment Dealers Association has published the Canadian Capital Markets Association’s “T+1 Readiness Checklist” to help its member firms prepare for the move to a shorter settlement cycle.

The purpose of the checklist is to increase the awareness of organizations in securities related industries to the level of preparedness that is needed in shortening the securities trade-to-settlement cycle from T+3 to T+1.

The IDA says that member firms should be aware that the CCMA’s checklist can be used as an early analytical tool to determine their organizations’ progress in their movement to T+1. In addition, the checklist provides firms with an indication of possible steps that they can take in their preparation for T+1.

The checklist also facilitates benchmarking, as a firm’s score on the checklist can be compared against the CCMA’s standard “T+1 preparedness scale”.

The Canadian and U.S. securities industries are coordinating their activities in their move to T+1. As stated on the CCMA’s Web page, key changes in the environment could be in place by early 2003, with testing and stabilization taking place over the following 15 months, for a final implementation in mid-2004.