SONIA users favor keeping 09:00 publication as settlement expands
Participants in the Bank of England's SONIA Stakeholder Advisory Group favored retaining 09:00 publication as settlement hours expand. Minutes of the September 25, 2026 meeting, published October 15, report stable overnight markets.
Longer settlement tests reporting deadlines
The Bank of England (BoE) is reviewing consultation feedback on near-24-hour, seven-day RTGS and CHAPS settlement, with industry follow-up planned for Q1 2027.
One scenario closes CHAPS at 18:00 and starts next-day settlement at 20:00, creating a value-date/calendar-date mismatch until 00:00. Participants discussed timestamp conventions and booking adjustments to manage interest calculations.
Later closing also affects sterling money market reporting due at 07:00 for SONIA publication at 09:00. Firms stressed the ability to regenerate or resubmit prior-day data and favored preserving publication time to avoid disrupting SONIA-linked products.
Sunday and potential full-weekend opening raise questions over weekend rates, volumes and their inclusion in SONIA.
Stable cash meets wider coverage
Daily unsecured overnight volumes remained around £55 billion, with the spread to Bank Rate close to 1.9 basis points.
Money-market funds received approximately £15 billion of inflows year to date and increased overnight allocations following liquidity-guidance changes and geopolitical tensions.
Repo volatility and month-end peaks were lower than a year earlier.
The BoE and His Majesty's Treasury are reviewing statutory data-gathering powers; future collection from group entities may preserve SONIA coverage as market structures, infrastructure and booking locations change.
Liquidity sets the clock
The Office for National Statistics release-time debate exposes the limits of longer trading hours.
ICE SONIA and gilt futures opened at 01:00 from July 6, but participants preferred statistics after 08:00 for deeper liquidity.
They viewed 09:30 as relatively late for pricing, while releases had moved to 07:00 during Covid.