FIS Acquires Droit: Computational Law Moves Into the Core of Capital Markets Infrastructure

Financial technology provider Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) has acquired RegTech firm Droit, a specialist in computational law and automated regulatory decisioning used across global capital markets.

The deal brings Droit’s rule-based compliance platform into the FIS capital-markets technology stack, positioning the combined offering to deliver embedded regulatory controls across trading, post-trade processing and reporting workflows.

Andres Choussy, President & COO, FIS said  “Our clients spend enormous time and money managing regulatory complexity and most of that work is still manual.  This is a challenge we’ve aimed to address for a significant time, and with our recent acquisition of Droit, we are now positioned to achieve it.”

Droit is known for its Adept platform, which encodes regulatory obligations as machine-executable logic that can determine whether a trade, product or activity complies with jurisdiction-specific market rules in real time. The technology is used by banks, trading venues and market infrastructure providers to automate complex regulatory determinations across regimes such as derivatives reporting, product eligibility and cross-border market access.

For Droit, the combination represents an opportunity to scale its regulatory decisioning technology within a larger financial-technology platform serving thousands of financial institutions worldwide. FIS provides banking, payments and capital-markets technology to more than 20,000 clients globally.

Brock Arnason, Chief Executive Officer of Droit, said the integration with FIS would extend the reach of Droit’s approach to computational regulation.

“Our mission has always been to translate complex regulation into precise, executable logic,” Arnason said. “Joining FIS allows us to bring that capability to a broader set of market participants and embed regulatory intelligence directly within core financial workflows.”

Grant Thornton UK Modernises Client Onboarding with Fenergo CLM

Grant Thornton UK is moving to modernise its client onboarding and due diligence processes through the deployment of Fenergo’s client lifecycle management (CLM) platform. The initiative reflects a broader shift among professional services firms toward centralised onboarding architectures that bring know-your-customer (KYC), due diligence and engagement acceptance into a unified workflow.

The new platform is intended to streamline how Grant Thornton performs client checks and manages regulatory obligations at the outset of an engagement. By consolidating previously fragmented processes into a single system, the firm expects to reduce manual effort associated with onboarding while improving the consistency of risk and compliance assessments.

In practical terms, the change replaces labour-intensive onboarding steps with a structured digital workflow that integrates KYC, client due diligence and engagement approval. The goal is to reduce the operational overhead associated with onboarding new clients while enabling teams to focus more on advisory and client-facing work.

“Efficiency, quality and compliance are fundamental to delivering exceptional service to our clients. Fenergo’s unified platform will help us optimise the onboarding experience, reducing time and supporting regulatory readiness across our business; all underpinned by the company’s proven track record and deep expertise in this space,” said Fiona Baldwin, Chief Operating Officer, Grant Thornton UK.

Grant Thornton’s adoption also reflects a wider trend in which large professional services and financial institutions are investing in technology platforms to standardise onboarding and compliance processes. In this context, client lifecycle management systems increasingly act as operational control points – linking regulatory checks, documentation and approval workflows into a single operational layer.

“We are proud to partner with Grant Thornton UK as they reimagine their operating model for client onboarding, due diligence and engagement acceptance. Our mission is to empower users to focus on their most critical business priorities, gaining a competitive advantage through efficiency and personalised client experience. By leveraging AI, we aim to streamline workflows, remove waste and drive impactful outcomes. Grant Thornton’s adoption underscores our strategic growth in the professional services sector and the strength of our AI-powered CLM platform,” said Ruth Ormsby, Managing Director, EMEA, Fenergo.

The deployment highlights how onboarding technology—once primarily associated with banking KYC – has become increasingly relevant to professional services firms facing similar regulatory scrutiny around client due diligence, risk assessment and engagement governance.

Retail Flow Becomes Integral to Institutional Execution Strategies, says Horizon Report

New research from Horizon Trading Solutions reveals that retail trading has moved from the periphery to the core of financial markets, significantly altering institutional execution. A survey of traders at tier 2 and 3 banks and institutional brokers found that nearly two-thirds now attribute at least 40% of their total trading activity to retail flow. This suggests that the influence of individual investors is far more deeply integrated into professional market structures than the standard US headline figures of 20% to 35% would indicate.

The surge in retail participation across equities, options, and micro derivatives is forcing a shift in professional conduct. Close to 75% of respondents have adjusted their execution strategies to account for these flows, with nearly a third reporting fundamental changes to their trading methods. Despite previous volatility linked to “meme stock” events, the majority of institutional participants now view the presence of retail flow as a positive market development.

Looking forward, institutional traders expect retail-driven initiatives to continue reshaping market infrastructure. Extended trading hours were identified by 25% of respondents as the development likely to have the greatest impact on their operations, followed by global retail expansion and the growth of fractional trading. While prediction markets remain a minor factor due to regulatory constraints outside the US, the overall trend points toward a market structure increasingly defined by retail demand.

ASX and LSEG Partner to Modernise ASX 24 Trading Platform

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has reached an agreement with LSEG Markets Technology to upgrade the ASX 24 trading platform. This partnership aims to bolster the growth and resilience of the venue, which serves as a primary hub for Australian and New Zealand interest rate, equity, and commodity derivatives. By leveraging LSEG’s global experience with Tier-1 markets, the exchange seeks to maintain its standing as a stable, highly liquid environment for a diverse trading community.

Under the terms of the deal, LSEG will implement a high-performance, low-latency system designed to enhance speed and capacity. The primary focus of the upgrade is to reduce operational risk while providing the agility required to expand product sets and meet the demands of sophisticated derivatives trading. This technical foundation is expected to support long-term improvements in market transparency and liquidity.

Implementation will begin immediately, with both organisations collaborating throughout 2026 on platform design, rigorous testing, and participant migration. This phased approach is intended to ensure a seamless transition for the market ecosystem. Once complete, the new infrastructure will underpin one of the world’s most active interest-rate derivatives markets, ensuring it remains competitive in a global landscape.

3DX and BridgePort Partner to Enhance Institutional Crypto Trading Infrastructure

3DX, the MiCAR-regulated crypto-asset trading platform powered by 360T, has partnered with BridgePort to integrate its off-exchange settlement (OES) middleware. This collaboration is designed to improve capital efficiency and reduce settlement risk for institutional clients. By incorporating this infrastructure, 3DX enables firms to streamline post-trade operations while maintaining their existing relationships with chosen custodians.

The integration allows for seamless credit reallocation and coordinated settlement messaging between trading firms and custody providers. BridgePort’s middleware acts as a secure coordination layer, facilitating pre-order credit allocation and post-trade settlement without requiring 3DX to move beyond its core exchange functions.

As a regulated entity, 3DX remains focused exclusively on operating its trading platform. It does not engage in custody, leverage, or credit intermediation. This partnership reinforces the platform’s commitment to providing robust, institutional-grade infrastructure for the European and global crypto markets by connecting market participants through secure, efficient technical architecture.

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.