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Record date
The record date is the date on which the issuer, or its CSD, determines who is entitled to a corporate action, based on settled positions at the end of that business day. Under a two-day settlement cycle it falls one business day after the ex-date; under T+1 the two dates coincide. The payment date follows it.
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This is a brief definition. A full explanation with a worked example is being written.
Sources
Updated 31 Oct 2026.
CSD (Central securities depository)A central securities depository (CSD) is an entity that operates a securities settlement system and provides the initial recording of securities in book-entry form (notary service) or central maintenance of securities accounts at the top tier. In the EU CSDs are authorised under the Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR).
Corporate actionA corporate action, or corporate event, is an action by an issuer that affects its securities and their holders, such as a dividend, a coupon payment, a stock split, a rights issue, a merger or a redemption. Events are mandatory, mandatory with choice, or voluntary, and must be processed along the whole custody chain.
Ex-dateThe ex-date is the first day on which a security trades without the right to a pending corporate action, such as a dividend. A buyer on or after the ex-date does not receive the entitlement; with a T+1 cycle the ex-date and the record date fall on the same business day.
T+1 (Settlement cycle)T+1 is a settlement cycle in which securities trades settle one business day after the trade date. Regulation (EU) 2025/2075 moves trades on EU trading venues from T+2 to T+1 from 11 October 2027; the United States, Canada and Mexico moved in May 2024, and the UK and Switzerland target the same date as the EU.