Discussions around shortening local financial settlement cycles within the next five years have most securities firms eyeing central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
Banking giant Citi’s latest edition of its Securities Services Evolution white paper highlighted India’s recent move to T+1 settlements, which ensures all trade-related settlements conclude within 24 hours of a transaction. As the United States, Canada and other leading economies step up efforts to transition to T+1 settlement cycles, the Citi survey gauges the importance of distributed ledger technology (DLT), CBDCs and stablecoins in expediting this transition.