Fifty percent of investment companies will need to upgrade their technology to be able to clear and settle trades within 24 hours, a capability referred to as T+1. KPMG of New York made this discovery in a survey of investment firms it conducted at the Investment Company Institute general meeting in Washington, D.C. last month.
Fifty percent said their technology and systems would need upgrades to become T+1 compliant. Forty percent said their back office would need improvements, 17 percent said their portfolio management would and 12 percent said their trading desks would.
Forty-seven percent said they felt fully prepared for T+1 domestic trades and 46 percent said they were either totally unprepared or months behind. For T+1 cross-border trades, 28 percent said they were fully prepared and 62 percent said they were unprepared or months behind.
Currently, companies are required to settle trades within three days. But, the SEC may require them to settle trades within T+1 by 2002.
