The Securities Industry Association has pushed back the target date for completion of the U.S. securities industryÕs conversion to next-day settlement processing (T+1) from June 2004 to June 2005.

In making this decision, the SIA board of directors considered the needs of member-firms to develop plans for 2002 that better address their individual priorities, including business continuity.

“The industry remains committed to straight-through processing leading to T+1,” says Donald Kittell, SIA executive vice president. “The less aggressive pace will enable firms to complete the substantial systems development required for STP while continuing with other critical technology projects.”

Kittell also noted that the industryÕs experience in September reinforces the need for more extensive straight-through processing and the reduction of manual processing of trade information and physical movement of check payments and securities. He emphasized that many of the milestones, which
were identified by SIA in May 2001 in its T+1 project analysis, are expected to be completed on schedule. The new target date means that securities firms must be ready by mid-2004 so that they can participate in a full year of utilizing the new processing infrastructure and industry testing as envisioned in the original plan.

The SIA T+1 Steering Committee will evaluate the schedule in light of the board1s decision and develop a strategy for the implementation of straight-through processing. This updated plan, which will be presented at the STP/T+1 Conference on January 16, 2002, will build on the knowledge gained to date and the lessons learned from recent events, says Kittell.