What does PENF PRCY mean?

Your trade is failing because the counterparty’s instruction is on hold. Your side is ready. Ask the counterparty to release its instruction.

What is the difference between PRCY and PREA?

PREA is your own instruction on hold; PRCY is the counterparty’s instruction on hold. Each side sees the opposite code for the same trade.

Settlement status codes

PRCY: Counterparty Instruction on Hold

Written and maintained by ZagTrader. Last reviewed 21 October 2026. How this page is sourced and checked

PRCY tells you that the counterparty’s matching instruction is on hold, frozen or in preadvice mode. Your side is ready; settlement waits for the counterparty to release its instruction.

Code: PRCY
Kind: Reason (24B)
Used with: PEND, PENF

What PRCY means

PRCY is the counterparty’s view of PREA. When one party holds its instruction, the other party’s instruction cannot settle either, because both legs must settle together.

In T2S, the counterparty is informed of a party hold by a sese.024 with pending or failing reason PRCY (ECB T2S multiple-status reporting). T2S can combine it with other reasons, for example PRCY with LATE or LINK when the held instruction also arrived after the cut-off or is linked.

Under PEND the trade can still settle on the intended date if the counterparty releases in time; under PENF it is failing.

When you see it

After matching, when the counterparty sent its instruction on hold or its account holds instructions by default, and in T2S when a counterparty holds an instruction that was already matched.

What to do next

Contact the counterparty or your broker with the trade reference and ask them to release their instruction.
Nothing needs to change in your instruction. Watch for the next status advice: after the release it should move to settled or to FUTU or CYCL.
In the EU, if the trade fails because the counterparty held its instruction, the CSDR cash penalty is attributed to the counterparty.

Where it appears in MT and ISO 20022

MT (ISO 15022)

MT548 sequence A2a (REAS), :24B::PEND//PRCY after :25D::SETT//PEND, or :24B::PENF//PRCY after :25D::SETT//PENF.
MT537 sequence B1 or C3a, :24B::PEND//PRCY or :24B::PENF//PRCY.

MX (ISO 20022)

sese.024 SttlmSts/Pdg/Rsn/Cd/Cd = PRCY or SttlmSts/Flng/Rsn/Cd/Cd = PRCY.
Not in the pending processing list (PrcgSts/PdgPrcg).

Questions

What does PENF PRCY mean?: Your trade is failing because the counterparty’s instruction is on hold. Your side is ready. Ask the counterparty to release its instruction.
What is the difference between PRCY and PREA?: PREA is your own instruction on hold; PRCY is the counterparty’s instruction on hold. Each side sees the opposite code for the same trade.