LONDON, July 10 (Reuters) - A coordinated move by stock

markets in the European Union and Britain to catch up with Wall

Street by halving the settlement time for transactions could

realistically happen in late 2027, an EU regulatory hearing was

told on Wednesday.

Trades on the London Stock Exchange ( LDNXF ), Deutsche Boerse,

Euronext and other bourses in Europe take two business days to

settle, lagging one business day (T+1) in the United States

since May.

The European Securities and Markets Authority, the bloc's

markets watchdog, held a hearing on Wednesday where a poll of

participants overwhelmingly backed an option to complete T+1 in

the fourth quarter of 2027.

Britain has targeted the end of 2027 at the latest, and

later this year the EU's executive European Commission is

expected to propose a date, with technical preparations already

underway.

"Q4 2027, with all that is already happening, I think is

realistic, I don't think it's too much of a stretch," Sebastijan

Hrovatin, a senior official at the European Commission, told the

hearing, adding that a final decision would be up to the EU

states and the European Parliament.

Andrew Douglas, head of Britain's T+1 industry group now

compiling recommendations for UK regulators, said these would

include a move date "that is looking increasingly like the back

end of 2027, probably September, October."

Douglas said he was not sure how the EU and UK could

formally cooperate given post-Brexit political sensitivities,

but it was necessary for both to align with the United States.

Douglas said for EU-UK coordination to take place, the EU

needed to "pick a date and stick with it", as advised by U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler.

The perceived success of the U.S. move has led to a "voluble

lobby" in Britain calling for a shift in 2026, but Douglas said

that "realistically, I am not sure that's on the table".

Initially, Europe's funds industry body EFAMA was lukewarm

to T+1, but it told the hearing that its views have evolved

after Wall Street's successful shift, with over half the world's

equity trading now on T+1.

Vincent Ingham, EFAMA's director of regulatory policy, said

a need to preserve competitiveness in European markets made a

compelling case for the EU "to move as quickly as practically

and operationally feasible to T+1, co-ordinated with the UK and

Switzerland."