FX Settlement Dates to Shift for New Australian Holiday

The state government of New South Wales in Australia recently announced an additional public holiday for the state should the traditional Anzac Day holiday fall on a weekend, meaning April 27 2026 (and 26 April 2027) is now a public holiday, requiring changes to existing FX trades.

The Australian FX Committee held a special meeting last week to discuss the matter and issue guidance, following questions as to how FX settlement will be affected by the new holiday. Previously, settlement dates have had to be moved in several jurisdictions following special events, generally these “unscheduled” holidays have seen trades pushed to the next available date, however The Full FX understands that in this case, there was some confusion by the announcement of a “scheduled” holiday when trades for that date had already been completed.

The AFXC highlighted advice issued by the Reserve Bank Information and Transfer System (RITS) on 23 February, which confirmed there would be no CLS activity in RITS in Australia dollars on 27 April.

Sources familiar with the matter confirm what the AFXC minutes also state, that counterparties are accepting that the new holiday is now “scheduled”, therefore points adjustments are being made to roll maturities to 28 April. Equally, 26 April 2027 is no longer a valid value date for AUD, thus trades for that date are also being extended.

The AFXC says that no members raised any issues with how the adjustments were occurring at the meeting.