Settlement times - U.S.A.

The deadlines shown below are valid provided that the client's instructions are complete, accurate and eligible for straight-through processing (STP) in Clearstream and in the local market. Clients must also ensure that any necessary provision is available. If one or more of these criteria are not met, Clearstream cannot guarantee timely settlement.

Important Note: As part of Clearstream’s internal compliance procedures, all incoming client instructions will be automatically scanned before entering transaction processing.  Instructions that are internally flagged as requiring further manual investigation are set to status pending, with such status immediately reported to the Client via their chosen media channel(s), until either being manually released for processing or rejected.  In order to ensure that instructions being investigated do not miss the applicable deadlines, Clients are advised to input instructions at least 15 minutes before the associated deadline.

Note for CEU clients: Please be advised that settlement instructions sent to CEU are subject to the applicable settlement cycles of the TARGET2-Securities (T2S) platform. During T2S Real-Time Settlement (RTS) hours—between 05:00 and 18:00 CET—CEU clients are strongly encouraged to submit instructions at least 15 minutes in advance of deadlines stated below to allow sufficient time for processing. 

Outside of RTS hours, including during night-time settlement, scheduled T2S maintenance windows, or periods when T2S may be temporarily unavailable, processing delays may be longer. Clients should refer to CASCADE/T2S settlement cycles  documentation to ensure alignment with cut-off times and operational schedules. For market deadlines outside of RTS hours, clients are advised to submit their instructions at least 15 min before the end of RTS processing in T2S.  

Note: U.S. securities can be listed on foreign exchanges. For deadlines and details, please refer to the Multi-Market Securities Guide.

Settlement times in Central European Time (CET)

a. For DTC-eligible securities book-entry settlement against payment transactions (receipt and deliveries): if client uses Clearstream affirmation service, settlement instructions shall be sent prior to Citi US cut-off affirmation deadline, 20:45 EST SD-1/ 2:45 CET SD. Instructions shall be duly provisioned with cash or securities by this cut-off time. Instructions that cannot be affirmed, can still settle provided that the instruction is valid. Please refer to Clearstream affirmation service.
b. To ensure timely processing, it is recommended that back-to-back instructions reach CBL by 20:30 on SD-1.
c. For deliveries to CREST account 2012 in DTC, the delivery instruction should be received in Clearstream before 15:15 CET for same-day settlement (assuming that the instruction can be handled STP by our depository).
d. Against payment deliveries of DTC-eligible securities are subject to RAD approval, eliminating risk of DK (Don’t Know), and deliveries are consequently confirmed intraday.
e. Expected settlement results times vary.

a. For DTC-eligible securities book-entry settlement against payment transactions (receipt and deliveries): if client uses Clearstream affirmation service, settlement instructions shall be sent prior to Citi US cut-off affirmation deadline, 20:45 EST SD-1/ 2:45 CET SD. Instructions shall be duly provisioned with cash or securities by this cut-off time. Instructions that cannot be affirmed, can still settle provided that the instruction is valid. Please refer to Clearstream affirmation service.
b. To ensure timely processing, it is recommended that back-to-back instructions reach CBL by 20:30 on SD-1.
c. For deliveries to CREST account 2012 in DTC, the delivery instruction should be received in Clearstream before 15:15 CET for same-day settlement (assuming that the instruction can be handled STP by our depository).
d. Against payment deliveries of DTC-eligible securities are subject to RAD approval, eliminating risk of DK (Don’t Know), and deliveries are consequently confirmed intraday.
e. Expected settlement results times vary.

Settlement times in New York Time

a. For DTC-eligible securities book-entry settlement against payment transactions (receipt and deliveries): if client uses Clearstream affirmation service, settlement instructions shall be sent prior to Citi US cut-off affirmation deadline, 20:45 EST SD-1/ 2:45 CET SD. Instructions shall be duly provisioned with cash or securities by this cut-off time. Instructions that cannot be affirmed, can still settle provided that the instruction is valid. Please refer to Clearstream affirmation service.
b. To ensure timely processing, it is recommended that back-to-back instructions reach CBL by 20:30 on SD-1.
c. For deliveries to CREST account 2012 in DTC, the delivery instruction should be received in Clearstream before 15:15 CET for same-day settlement (assuming that the instruction can be handled STP by our depository).
d. Against payment deliveries of DTC-eligible securities are subject to RAD approval, eliminating risk of DK (Don’t Know), and deliveries are consequently confirmed intraday.
e. Expected settlement results times vary.

a. For DTC-eligible securities book-entry settlement against payment transactions (receipt and deliveries): if client uses Clearstream affirmation service, settlement instructions shall be sent prior to Citi US cut-off affirmation deadline, 20:45 EST SD-1/ 2:45 CET SD. Instructions shall be duly provisioned with cash or securities by this cut-off time. Instructions that cannot be affirmed, can still settle provided that the instruction is valid. Please refer to Clearstream affirmation service.
b. To ensure timely processing, it is recommended that back-to-back instructions reach CBL by 20:30 on SD-1.
c. For deliveries to CREST account 2012 in DTC, the delivery instruction should be received in Clearstream before 15:15 CET for same-day settlement (assuming that the instruction can be handled STP by our depository):
d. Against payment deliveries of DTC-eligible securities are subject to RAD approval, eliminating risk of DK (Don’t Know), and deliveries are consequently confirmed intraday.
e. Expected settlement results times vary.