FMIs Propose Framework for Digital Asset Securities Interoperability

Clearstream, DTCC, and Euroclear, in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group, have released a joint white paper titled ‘Building the Path Towards Digital Asset Securities Interoperability’. The report identifies significant fragmentation across emerging Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) networks as a primary obstacle to the growth of the decentralised finance ecosystem. To address this, the authors propose a structured path forward focused on data standardisation, process harmonisation, and consistent industry roles.

The paper outlines five essential foundations required to achieve interoperability at scale: assets and liabilities, ownership recognition, asset lifecycle and movement protocols, ledgers, and legal compliance. By establishing these pillars, the industry aims to preserve the mobility, liquidity, and fungibility of digital assets. This framework builds upon the 2024 Digital Asset Securities Control Principles, which set baseline standards for security, resilience, and customer asset safeguarding.

Ultimately, the white paper serves as a call for collective action across the financial sector. The authors encourage industry participants to integrate these interoperability standards into their strategic roadmaps to simplify digital use cases and unlock new market models. By fostering a unified approach, the FMIs seek to ensure that the transition to digital asset securities maintains the same level of trust and regulatory oversight found in traditional global financial services.

AiMi Launches AI-Driven Incident Management Solution for Capital Markets

AiMi, the fintech specialising in agentic AI for trading operations, has introduced a new Incident Management solution to help capital markets firms manage trading venue and vendor-related outages. The platform uses autonomous AI agents to ingest and structure fragmented service alerts, maintenance updates, and degradation notices from exchanges and service providers in real time. By transforming unstructured data into actionable intelligence, the tool aims to reduce the manual effort typically required to triage operational disruptions.

The solution is designed to assist firms in meeting strict regulatory requirements, such as DORA, SEC Regulation SCI, and ESMA RTS 7, which mandate the rapid detection and reporting of ICT incidents. AiMi’s agents map incoming alerts against a firm’s specific infrastructure and business logic to determine the precise operational impact. This ensures that technical teams can distinguish between background noise and critical failures that require immediate escalation.

Every incident is tracked through an automated, auditable lifecycle, with data displayed on severity dashboards and integrated into internal platforms like Jira and Slack. This launch expands AiMi’s existing suite of market data tools, providing an end-to-end platform for managing both scheduled exchange-driven changes and unforeseen live incidents. The system maintains human-in-the-loop oversight to ensure accuracy while accelerating response times across the trading environment.

SimCorp Unveils Factor Aggregation Tool for Quants

SimCorp has introduced the Axioma Factor Library Suite to aggregate fundamental, technical and macroeconomic factors into a single data resource for asset managers and hedge funds, among other users.

The library includes exposures for 50,000 securities across 90 countries with historical data dating back to 1997. Users can access the data through the Axioma Risk Model Machine or via the Snowflake platform to integrate research into existing investment pipelines.

Ian Lumb, head of analytics product management at the financial technology provider said the suite provides proprietary factor research to give clients a broader universe of signals for investment strategies.

“By offering access via Snowflake, we enable seamless integration into client workflows and automation, allowing them to easily incorporate our research into existing investment processes and confidently design strategies that reflect their unique investment identity,” Lumb said.

Factor libraries allow quantitative managers to test hypotheses and build bespoke risk models by combining equity styles with macroeconomic drivers.

SimCorp also announced that it had appointed Debbie Townley as chief people officer to manage its workforce and culture strategy.

Townley previously spent 18 years in human resources roles at BlackRock, Brooks MacDonald and GAM Investments, where she also served as chief people officer.

Based in London, Townley reports to chief executive Peter Sanderson.

Datamaran ESG Regulation Monitoring Software Up and Running

Datamaran has created standalone regulatory monitoring software that combines artificial intelligence with expert-curated intelligence to track ESG regulations globally.

The platform provides continuous monitoring and automated alerts to help companies identify relevant legislative developments and coordinate responses across internal teams.

Marjella Lecourt-Alma, chief executive and co-founder of the AI-powered risk and governance provider, said that the product “gives leaders the clarity, foresight, and structure they need to move from reactive compliance to proactive governance by delivering relevant and timely AI-powered insights within a structured workflow”.

The system includes visual dashboards and applicability indicators to provide early warning signals from the policy proposal stage through to rule implementation.

CUSIP Enables Direct Requests for Carbon Market Identifiers

CUSIP Global Services has rolled out a direct request mechanism for voluntary carbon market (VCM) registries to obtain identifiers.

EcoRegistry is the first platform to integrate this process, linking listed carbon projects to the specific alphanumeric codes that CSG provides. This initiative follows a partnership with BeZero Carbon to establish unique identifiers aimed at improving the traceability of environmental assets.

CGS EMEA regional head Darren Purcell said the foundation of every financial transaction is the ability to accurately and instantly identify the underlying asset and its core structure.

“By incorporating VCM CUSIPs into the core registration workflow, EcoRegistry is helping to set a new standard for transparency and institutional rigour in the VCM ecosystem,” Purcell said.

The system uses a nine-character format to capture unique attributes of carbon credit initiatives throughout their lifecycles.

DTCC to Launch Next-Generation Equities Data Portals Powered by Snowflake

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has announced the upcoming launch of new equities data portals designed to streamline access to clearing, settlement, and post-trade processing information. Built on Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud platform, these portals will provide a unified interface for data from the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC), the Depository Trust Corporation (DTC), and DTCC’s Institutional Trade Processing (ITP) suite.

The new infrastructure offers advanced analytics, interactive dashboards, and customisable visualisations to help firms monitor operational efficiency and industry benchmarks. Key features include the ability to drill down from high-level metrics into specific trade-level details, consolidated historical data across services, and flexible tools for bespoke queries. These enhancements aim to provide greater transparency into settlement rates and outstanding exceptions.

Currently undergoing beta testing with early-adopter firms, the Securities Data Experiences portal is scheduled for release in Q1 2026. This will be followed by the rollout of the redesigned ITP Analytics portal in Q2 2026. The initiative reflects DTCC’s strategy to modernise market infrastructure by delivering more intuitive, data-driven insights to its global client base.

Major Global Banks Commit to Strategic Equity Investment in OSTTRA

OSTTRA, the post-trade solutions provider, has secured a strategic equity investment from a consortium of six major financial institutions: Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, HSBC, UBS Investment Bank, and Wells Fargo. While the banks have committed to this joint investment, funds managed by KKR will retain majority ownership of the company.

The agreement follows OSTTRA’s transition to independence under KKR in October. The partnership aims to align the company’s product roadmap with evolving industry requirements, supporting expansion into new markets and asset classes. By collaborating closely with these long-standing clients, OSTTRA intends to develop a more unified and resilient post-trade ecosystem for over-the-counter and listed derivatives.

Currently, OSTTRA’s networks process millions of transactions daily, providing the infrastructure for banks and asset managers to manage workflows and reduce operational risk. This investment marks a significant milestone in the firm’s growth strategy, focusing on the continued modernisation of global capital markets infrastructure.

ION Group Registered as Independent Software Vendor for BSE Equity Derivatives

ION has secured registration as an Independent Software Vendor (ISV) with BSE (formerly Bombay Stock Exchange) for its equity derivatives segment. This milestone follows official certification of ION’s Fidessa trading platform, which has been verified as fully compliant with all exchange rules and regulatory standards. The approval allows exchange members to utilise Fidessa for futures and options (F&O) trading, including Direct Market Access (DMA).

Through this integration, market participants can access over 20 advanced algorithmic trading strategies tailored to optimise execution within the Indian market. This supplements ION’s existing approvals for equities and algorithmic trading on the BSE, which is Asia’s oldest stock exchange with more than 5,700 listed companies.

The move ensures ION now provides comprehensive coverage across India’s primary trading venues. This includes both equity and derivative segments on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). By consolidating its service offering across these major exchanges, ION strengthens its role as a technology partner for financial institutions and corporates operating within the Indian capital market ecosystem.

Cicada Secures US$13.5 Million Series A Funding to Digitalise Latin American Bond Markets

Cicada, the US-regulated electronic trading platform, has raised US$13.5 million in a Series A funding round led by Citi. The investment includes participation from B3 (the Brazilian Stock Exchange) via its venture capital arm L4, alongside Kaszek, Dila, and Crestone. A parallel strategic equity program has also been established to attract leading Wall Street institutions as committed market makers, aiming to anchor liquidity and accelerate the platform’s growth.

The investment will focus on bringing efficiency to Latin American local-currency bond markets, which currently rely heavily on voice-driven trading. In Mexico’s US$500 billion fixed income market, more than 98% of daily trading remains non-electronic. Cicada will address this through its SEC-registered alternative trading system (ATS), which provides an all-to-all marketplace and proprietary execution protocols, including one of the first central limit order books (CLOB) for Mexican local-currency bonds.

This new capital will be used to expand commercial operations, increase liquidity, and integrate with third-party global platforms. Cicada also plans to extend its product range into electronic interest rate swap execution, specifically targeting the Mexican TIIE market. This sector currently sees average daily trading volumes of approximately US$24 billion and represents a significant area for continued digital transformation in regional finance.

Trading Technologies to Launch Direct Connectivity to National Stock Exchange of India

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT) plans to provide clients with direct connectivity to the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) in 2026. This initiative follows a rise in demand from both domestic and international institutional clients seeking access to Indian markets. As an officially empaneled vendor of the NSE, TT has formalised an agreement to establish a direct presence within the exchange’s co-location data centre.

The integration will allow market participants to access the NSE through TT’s existing platform, which processed over 3 billion derivatives transactions in 2025. Users will be able to utilise the full suite of TT’s institutional-grade tools, including execution algorithms, automated spreading, and advanced charting. This move further expands the platform’s multi-asset capabilities, building on its recent recognition as a leading global provider of futures and options technology.