Central Bank of Ireland publishes Markets Update No 17 of 2026

On 20 October 2026, the Central Bank of Ireland (the Central Bank) published Issue No 17 2026 of its regular Markets Update, in which it sets out alerts of interest to Irish regulated firms and other market participants. For our summaries of the previous issues, please see the right-hand column of this page.

The new update contains a single item:

T+1 Settlement - One year to go

A year ahead of the switch to T+1 settlement, the Central Bank echoes ESMA’s call to market participants to finalise their technical preparations, assess readiness across their entire ecosystems and begin testing throughout the trading and settlement chain as soon as possible.

The Central Bank notes that the regulatory framework for the transition to T+1 is now in place following the publication of both

• the Level 2 measures (published in the OJ on 14 October 2026), which amend existing RTS made under the Central Securities Depositories Regulation on settlement discipline and
• ESMA Guidelines on standardised procedures and messaging protocols used between investment firms and their professional clients (published on 16 October 2026).

The ESMA Guidelines clarify how market participants should meet the new requirements on allocations and confirmations under the amended Settlement Discipline RTS, in particular, the mandatory use of:

• electronic, standardised communication channels and international messaging standards and
• machine-readable communication methods, except in cases of temporary technical disruptions.

The Central Bank reminds investment firms that they and their clients must comply with these requirements from 7 December 2026.