The Securities Industry Association is surveying individual investors to help determine how many investors own paper stock certificates, and why they continue to do so.

The survey results will provide insight into individual investors’ trading needs as the industry continues its efforts to streamline the post-trade processing cycle for securities transactions from the current trade date plus three days (T+3) to trade date plus one (T+1).

“Moving to T+1 means that sellers holding physical securities will only have one day to deposit the shares with their broker-dealer. Alternatives such as holding shares in street name or ‘certificateless’ form are more efficient because the securities can be traded without delay,” said John Panchery, SIA vice president and managing director, systems and technology.

“Individual investors are vital to our business, and we must ensure that their perspective is incorporated into the industry’s efforts to become T+1 compliant. Their answers will influence our decisions about the kinds of systems we develop to meet their future trading needs,” Panchery said.

The deadline for completing the online survey is July 31, and the SIA encourages its member-firms to promote the survey with their clients. Individual responses will be confidential.