Modernising asset servicing – speed is nothing without harmonisation

Ben van der Velpen, Managing Director at the Dutch Advisory Committee Securities Industry, underlined that automation is no longer optional. “We need at least automation of post-trade processes because of the shortening of the settlement cycle, system upgrades, but also workload redesign,” he said. The Committee has identified around 64 issues connected to T+1, none of which are purely domestic, showing that the challenge is European in scope. Harmonisation, he suggested, is the missing link.