The stock trade settlement time has little to do with the financial system, but more with how stock trading is organised. There are quite a few steps before ac

The stock trade settlement time has little to do with the financial system, but more with how stock trading is organised. There are quite a few steps before actual stocks can change hands. For instance the seller could have sold without actually owning the stocks, it might be he even can't deliver them, in which case the clearing will have to take care of that, etc. All these steps could have been automated long ago if the will was there, the reason they haven't is not because of the currency used but because of traditional common practice and legacy reasons.