Settlement transaction types
REAL: Realignment
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REAL marks a realignment of positions: securities moved between depositories or CSD accounts so that the holdings each one records agree with where the securities actually sit after cross-system settlement.
- Code
- REAL
What REAL means
When a security is held through several depositories, for example by two ICSDs through their depositories or by an investor CSD through an issuer CSD, a settlement between participants of different systems changes the positions each depository must hold. The movement that brings those positions back in line is a realignment, flagged REAL. Citi’s field 22F guide describes it as realignment of positions between ICSD depositories.
End investors rarely instruct REAL; it is mostly sent by CSDs, depositories and their agents. Changes to an ICSD’s position at the common depository for custody reasons use MKUP and MKDW instead.
When you see it
- On instructions and confirmations between depositories, and on statements of accounts that CSDs hold with each other.
- In custodian code lists that accept it from clients that operate their own depository accounts.
What to do next
- Use REAL only for position realignment between depositories. A client transfer between custodians is OWNE or PORT.
- If a realignment does not settle, the cross-system trade that caused it can stay incomplete, so treat a pending REAL movement as urgent.
Where it appears in MT and ISO 20022
MT (ISO 15022)
- MT540, MT541, MT542 and MT543: sequence E (SETDET), field 22F,
:22F::SETR//REAL. The SETR qualifier is mandatory, so every instruction carries one code (format:4!c/[8c]/4!c; with a data source scheme a proprietary code may be sent instead). - Repeated in the confirmations MT544, MT545, MT546 and MT547 (sequence E,
:22F::SETR//REAL) and in the MT548 status advice (sequence B, where SETR is mandatory when the sequence is present). - Optional in the statements: MT536 subsequence B1a2 and MT537 subsequences B2b and C2.