ICMA welcomes publication of EU T+1 Industry Committee guidance on the Gating Event
16 June 2026 ICMA welcomes the publication of a new guidance document by the EU T+1 Industry Committee (IC) setting out FAQs and Best Practices for the proposed “Gating Event”, a new settlement functionality to be rolled out across all EU (I)CSDs designed to help mitigate potential liquidity and settlement efficiency challenges arising from the move to T+1 settlement in October 2027. ICMA co-led the drafting of the guidance on behalf of the IC, working closely with market participants, market infrastructures and regulators through the relevant technical workstreams (TWS).
The Gating Event has been developed in response to concerns that the transition to T+1 could lead to a significant increase in same-day (T+0) repo activity, potentially increasing intraday liquidity demands and reducing opportunities for settlement optimisation. The proposed functionality would allow flagged settlement instructions to be automatically released for settlement at 11:00 CET on their intended settlement date, enabling the use of existing optimisation tools, including technical netting. It is based on a recommendation by the SFT TWS, which led to the creation of a dedicated SFT Settlement Optimisation Taskforce set up by the IC to work on a concrete solution. The Taskforce published its final report in December 2025, which set out the key specifications for the Gating Event solution, while already recognising the need for additional guidance for market participants to be developed on the use of the new functionality.
The FAQs and Best Practice guidance published today addresses this request, following several months of further industry discussion coordinated by IC and the relevant TWS. The resulting document provides a comprehensive overview of the rationale behind the Gating Event, its operational design and implementation approach, as well as detailed best-practice recommendations on its use. The latter make it very clear that the functionality is intended primarily for T+0 repo transactions and related fixed-income cash market transactions where synchronised settlement can provide meaningful liquidity benefits. It also clearly explains how the Gating Event should not be used in order to avoid unintended consequences and potential disruptions to settlement activity.
Today’s publication represents an important milestone in the industry’s preparations for T+1 as it provides market participants with greater clarity on how the Gating Event should (and should not) be used to support a smooth transition. However, further implementation, testing and market readiness work will continue throughout 2026 and 2027 ahead of the planned T+1 go-live in October 2027. ICMA will continue to coordinate these discussions through the IC and the relevant TWS.
The full guidance document is available here.
