What is Settlement?

Settlement is the process of determining when a transaction is completely confirmed, or settled, by all interested parties. Until settlement provides confirmation of a completed exchange, the transaction remains pending and unresolved. The speed of settlement finality has major economic repercussions for businesses. Longer settlement times may lead to costly and time-consuming delays, and add up throughout a marketplace to significantly slow the process of conducting business throughout many industries. Shorter settlement times speed up business operations, save money, and remove uncertainty.