Effective September 5, 2017, the settlement cycle in the Canadian and US securities markets will be shortened from three days after the date of a trade (T+3) to two days after the date of a trade (T+2). In Canada, this change follows the announcement on April 27, 2017 by the Canadian Securities Administrators of their intentions to adopt amendments to National Instrument 24-101 Institutional Trade Matching and Settlement and its companion policy, to achieve a smooth transition to T+2 for equity and long-term debt market trades.
Benefits of the Change to T+2
The change from T+3 to T+2 will keep Canadian markets in line with simultaneous changes in the US markets, providing a uniform period for settling securities by T+2. It will also harmonize Canadian markets with the markets in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, which have already made the move to T+2 settlement cycle. Overall, the move to T+2 is expected to enhance market efficiency, simplify cross-border trading, and reduce counterparty, market and liquidity risks.
Transition Period
The change to a T+2 settlement cycle will result in ex-dates for dividends, distributions and other corporate actions changing from two business days prior to the record date to one business day prior to the record date. As a result of this transition, no listed security will commence ex trading on Tuesday, September 5, 2017. The chart below provides examples of the ex-dates under the new T+2 settlement cycle:
| Record Date | Ex-Date |
| September 1, 2017(1) | August 30, 2017 |
| September 5, 2017(2) | August 31, 2017(3) |
| September 6, 2017 | September 1, 2017(3) |
| September 7, 2017 | September 6, 2017 |
(1) Last day of T+3 settlement cycle.
(2) First day of T+2 settlement cycle.
(3) September 4, 2017 is a holiday and there will be no ex-date on this date.
