sese.023 — Securities Settlement Transaction Instruction

The settlement-delivery instruction for a securities transaction between custodian and CSD. Pivot of equities/bonds post-trade since 2025, ISO 20022 successor to SWIFT MT540 through MT543.

Purpose and place in the flow

sese.023 is the instruction a custodian sends to a CSD (Central Securities Depository) to settle a securities transaction. It describes what is to be delivered/received: movement type (DELI delivery or RECE receive), security (ISIN), quantity, cash counterpart, trade and settlement dates, involved parties (central depositary, counterparty, possible intermediate parties).

It's the pivot message of equities/bonds post-trade: each transaction typically needs two sese.023 — one on the delivery side and one on the receive side — that must match in the CSD for delivery-versus-payment to occur. A mismatch produces an unmatched status in sese.024.

sese.023 is the ISO 20022 successor to the SWIFT FIN MT540 (Receive Free), MT541 (Receive Against Payment), MT542 (Deliver Free), MT543 (Deliver Against Payment) series. The full ISO 20022 migration on European CSDs (Euroclear, Clearstream T2S) happened in March 2023; in the US (DTCC), MT/MX coexistence lasted until May 2024 with the T+1 switchover.

XML structure

sese.023 is wrapped in <Document> then the root element <SctiesSttlmTxInstr> (Securities Settlement Transaction Instruction). Seven structuring blocks:

• TxId — Transaction identifier on the sender side.
• SttlmTpAndAddtlParams — Movement type (DELI = Delivery, RECE = Receive) and payment indicator (APMT = Against Payment, FREE = Free).
• TradDt / SttlmDt — Trade and settlement dates.
• FinInstrmId — Security identification (ISIN, CFI, description).
• QtyAndAcctDtls — Quantity to settle + safekeeping account identifier.
• SttlmParams — Settlement parameters: transaction type (TRAD = Trade, REPO, SECL = Securities Lending…), settlement conditions.
• DlvrgSttlmPties / RcvgSttlmPties — Delivering and receiving parties (central depositary + parties).
• SttlmAmt — Associated cash amount if DvP (Delivery vs Payment), with credit/debit indicator.

Key fields

• TxId — Unique transaction identifier on the sender side (max 35 chars), carried forward in every follow-up message (sese.024 status, sese.025 confirmation, sese.027 modification).
• SttlmTpAndAddtlParams/SctiesMvmntTp — Securities movement direction: DELI (outgoing delivery) or RECE (incoming receive).
• SttlmTpAndAddtlParams/Pmt — Cash settlement mode: APMT (Against Payment, the most common for equities/bonds), FREE (Free of Payment, transfer with no cash leg).
• TradDt/Dt/Dt — Trade date (T0).
• SttlmDt/Dt/Dt — Settlement date (T+1 or T+2 per market, T+1 in the US since May 2024).
• FinInstrmId/ISIN — Mandatory ISIN (12 characters, ISO 6166 format).
• QtyAndAcctDtls/SttlmQty/Qty/Unit — Securities quantity in units. Sub-element FaceAmt for bonds (nominal value).
• QtyAndAcctDtls/SfkpgAcct/Id — Safekeeping account identifier at the custodian (max 35 chars).
• SttlmParams/SctiesTxTp/Cd — Transaction type: TRAD (Trade), REPO (Repurchase Agreement), SECL (Securities Lending), COLL (Collateral), CORP (Corporate Action linked)…
• DlvrgSttlmPties/Dpstry/Id/AnyBIC/AnyBIC — BIC of the delivering CSD (DTCYUS33 for DTCC, ECRLDEFF for Clearstream, EOCXBEBB for Euroclear Belgium…).
• DlvrgSttlmPties/Pty1 — BIC of the delivering custodian/broker.
• RcvgSttlmPties — Symmetric on the receive side.
• SttlmAmt/Amt — Cash amount with ISO 4217 Ccy. Mandatory in DvP.
• SttlmAmt/CdtDbtInd — Cash flow direction: CRDT (to receive) or DBIT (to pay).

XML example

Delivery instruction from BNP Paribas of 1,000 Apple shares (ISIN US0378331005) at 175.25 USD via DTCC, against payment of 175,250 USD received. Trade on 14 May 2026, T+1 settlement on 15 May (US T+1 since May 2024).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Document xmlns="urn:iso:std:iso:20022:tech:xsd:sese.023.001.11">
  <SctiesSttlmTxInstr>
    <TxId>BNPP-SETT-20260514-001</TxId>
    <SttlmTpAndAddtlParams>
      <SctiesMvmntTp>DELI</SctiesMvmntTp>
      <Pmt>APMT</Pmt>
    </SttlmTpAndAddtlParams>
    <TradDt>
      <Dt>
        <Dt>2026-05-14</Dt>
      </Dt>
    </TradDt>
    <SttlmDt>
      <Dt>
        <Dt>2026-05-15</Dt>
      </Dt>
    </SttlmDt>
    <FinInstrmId>
      <ISIN>US0378331005</ISIN>
      <Desc>Apple Inc. — Common Stock</Desc>
    </FinInstrmId>
    <QtyAndAcctDtls>
      <SttlmQty>
        <Qty>
          <Unit>1000</Unit>
        </Qty>
      </SttlmQty>
      <SfkpgAcct>
        <Id>BNPPSAFEKEEP-NYSE-001</Id>
      </SfkpgAcct>
    </QtyAndAcctDtls>
    <SttlmParams>
      <SctiesTxTp>
        <Cd>TRAD</Cd>
      </SctiesTxTp>
      <SttlmTxCond>
        <Cd>NOMC</Cd>
      </SttlmTxCond>
    </SttlmParams>
    <DlvrgSttlmPties>
      <Dpstry>
        <Id>
          <AnyBIC>
            <AnyBIC>DTCYUS33</AnyBIC>
          </AnyBIC>
        </Id>
      </Dpstry>
      <Pty1>
        <Id>
          <AnyBIC>
            <AnyBIC>BNPAFRPP</AnyBIC>
          </AnyBIC>
        </Id>
      </Pty1>
    </DlvrgSttlmPties>
    <RcvgSttlmPties>
      <Dpstry>
        <Id>
          <AnyBIC>
            <AnyBIC>DTCYUS33</AnyBIC>
          </AnyBIC>
        </Id>
      </Dpstry>
      <Pty1>
        <Id>
          <AnyBIC>
            <AnyBIC>GSCCUS33</AnyBIC>
          </AnyBIC>
        </Id>
      </Pty1>
    </RcvgSttlmPties>
    <SttlmAmt>
      <Amt Ccy="USD">175250.00</Amt>
      <CdtDbtInd>CRDT</CdtDbtInd>
    </SttlmAmt>
  </SctiesSttlmTxInstr>
</Document>

Versions

Common pitfalls

• Wrong Dpstry BIC — the classic MT/MX migration pitfall. Putting the custodian BIC instead of the CSD BIC blocks matching at the root. Always use the official depositary BIC (DTCYUS33, ECRLDEFF, EOCXBEBB…).
• Inconsistent dates — SttlmDt < TradDt is invalid. SttlmDt = TradDt + 1 to 2 business days depending on market. In the US since May 2024, strict T+1 (except exceptional cases).
• Decimal quantity — for equities, SttlmQty/Qty/Unit must be an integer. For bonds, use FaceAmt with the nominal.
• Missing SttlmAmt in DvP — Pmt=APMT without SttlmAmt is rejected. The cash amount is mandatory for matching.
• Misinterpreted CdtDbtInd — from the sese.023 sender's perspective: CRDT = cash received (delivery against payment received), DBIT = cash paid (receive against payment effected). Wrong direction = mismatch.
• Ignored SSIs (Standard Settlement Instructions) — many mismatches stem from incorrectly populated SSIs. Intermediate parties (broker, second-level custodian) must be present via Pty1, Pty2, Pty3 if applicable.
• Confusion TRAD / REPO — a repo must use SctiesTxTp=REPO, not TRAD. The wrong type changes downstream accounting and confuses EMIR / SFTR regulatory reporting.

Related messages

• sese.024 — Securities Settlement Transaction Status Advice. Settlement status: matched, unmatched, settled, cancelled, failed.
• sese.025 — Securities Settlement Transaction Confirmation. Final settlement confirmation.
• sese.027 — Securities Settlement Transaction Modification Request. Pending instruction modification.
• sese.020 — Securities Transaction Cancellation Request. Instruction cancellation.
• sese.030 — Securities Settlement Allegation. Counterparty allegation notification (matching).
• semt.017 — Securities Balance Custody Report. Custody position statement, aggregated view of held securities.
• setr.012 — Subscription Bulk Order Confirmation: counterpart on the investment-fund side.
• SWIFT MT540 through MT543 — legacy ancestors on the SWIFT FIN network, in partial coexistence until late 2025.

See also: the ISO 20022 index.