Same-day affirmation

Same-day affirmation (SDA) also known as T0 refers to completing the entire trade verification process on the same day that the actual trade took place. Trade verification is carried out on the institutional side of the market between the investment manager and the broker/dealer. This process ensures that the parties are in agreement about the essential trade details.

The four key steps in the verification process are:

The trade verification process concludes when the affirmation has been completed and then the clearing and settlement process begins, which also involves custodians, central securities depositories (CSDs), and other participants in the post-trading value chain. SDA leaves more time for the clearing and settlement processes within the intended settlement period, which in most markets means on the third day after trade execution (known as "T+3").

A market where SDA is the standard is also referred to as a "trade-date environment". This is seen as a critical enabler to achieving shortened settlement cycles, an objective the European Commission is driving through its Central Securities Depositories Regulation, and about which the United States has begun discussions as well, propelled in part by research commissioned by the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation in 2012. In both Europe and the U.S., discussions currently revolve around moving first to a settlement period of T+2, before ultimately moving to T+1.

Under manual verification, the allocation, confirmation and affirmation procedures are conducted sequentially between the investment manager and broker/dealer. There is no involvement of any further intermediary and communication is usually via telephone, fax or email.

With manual trade the counterparties respond to each other’s messages and the relevant data needs to be checked and re-keyed manually. There is a strict sequence of steps; each party must wait for the other to complete its actions before proceeding. Only once all the steps in the trade verification process are completed will the settlement instructions be sent and the next stages of post-trade processing begin.

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Wikipedia