FinScan and Nexus AML Partner to Scale Data-First AML Operations

Financial institutions have long invested heavily in transaction monitoring, sanctions screening, and KYC controls, yet many compliance teams continue to confront a more fundamental obstacle: the quality of the data that feeds those systems. Poorly structured or incomplete customer and transaction data can generate large volumes of alerts and manual investigation work, stretching already pressured financial crime teams.

Against this backdrop, Innovative Systems’ FinScan has entered into a strategic partnership with Nexus AML aimed at addressing the operational bottleneck at the front end of AML programmes: data readiness. The collaboration brings together FinScan’s data cleansing and sanctions-screening technology with Nexus AML’s outsourced financial crime operations, reflecting a growing industry emphasis on “data-first” compliance architectures.

Operational pressure linked to data quality is widely recognised across the sector. In a FinScan poll of 550 compliance professionals, 59% reported that data quality consumes most of their time – highlighting the extent to which AML teams are still managing downstream consequences of upstream data issues.

The partnership is designed to address that imbalance by combining automated data preparation with operational expertise in clearing and managing alerts. Institutions working with Nexus AML will be able to integrate FinScan’s real-time data cleansing and screening technology, which targets sanctions, watchlists and payment flows, with the aim of reducing unnecessary alerts and improving the accuracy of screening results. In parallel, organisations using FinScan’s technology will be able to access Nexus AML’s operational support services to help manage investigation workloads and maintain compliance processes during periods of heightened activity.

Deborah Overdeput, Chief Operating Officer at Innovative Systems, framed the collaboration around the operational foundations of AML programmes. “FinScan and Nexus AML share the belief that financial crime compliance must be both operationally scalable and strategically grounded in high-quality, compliance-ready data,” she said. “Our partnership brings together two complementary strengths: operational excellence in clearing and investigating alerts, and a data-first screening approach that reduces those alerts in the first place. Together, we’re helping institutions build AML programs that are more efficient, defensible, and sustainable.”

Teciem Welcomes Didier Bouillard as Chairman of Board of Directors

Teciem has appointed Didier Bouillard as independent chairman of its board, adding a senior capital-markets technology executive whose career spans some of the industry’s most significant trading, risk and regulatory infrastructure platforms. The move signals the firm’s focus on strengthening governance as it continues to scale its treasury and capital-markets software platform under private-equity ownership.

Bouillard brings more than three decades of experience building and leading enterprise financial-technology businesses. Based in London, he will work with Teciem’s board, management team and shareholder representatives to support strategic direction and governance oversight as the company pursues its next phase of growth.

His career includes senior roles at Ubitrade and SunGard, where he helped develop and expand trading, risk and post-trade platforms used widely across the industry. He later served as chief executive of Ullink, leading the firm’s global expansion before becoming CEO of Calypso Technology in 2018. In 2021 he took on leadership of Adenza following the merger of Calypso Technology and AxiomSL, overseeing the integration of trading, treasury, risk and regulatory-compliance capabilities before the company was acquired by Nasdaq.

Throughout these roles, Bouillard has worked at the intersection of market infrastructure, enterprise software and private-equity ownership models—experience that Teciem’s leadership believes will be relevant as the firm continues to expand its front-to-back treasury and capital-markets offering.

Commenting on the appointment, Wissam Khoury, Chief Executive Officer and Board Director at Teciem, said: “Welcoming an independent chairman of Didier’s caliber and experience to our Board of Directors marks an important milestone in Teciem’s evolution as a standalone, private-equity backed provider of treasury and capital markets technology. The appointment reflects our commitment to balanced oversight and governance standards consistent with leading institutional fintech platforms. Didier’s expertise in scaling fintech businesses in partnership with private equity, combined with his independent perspective, will be instrumental as we grow the business and execute our strategic roadmap.”

ClearToken and Canton Network Partner to Launch Regulated Settlement Infrastructure

ClearToken, the FCA-authorised financial market infrastructure (FMI) provider, has partnered with Canton Network to deploy three Daml-based digital asset platforms: CT Register, CT Pay, and CT Settle. This collaboration integrates ClearToken’s regulatory status with Canton’s blockchain architecture to provide settlement for stablecoin FX and tokenised cash flows. The suite enables the tokenisation of fiat and securities, single-sided and Payment versus Payment (PvP) settlement to eliminate currency risk, and Delivery versus Payment (DvP) net settlement across cryptoassets and stablecoins.

The partnership addresses a significant gap in the $315 billion stablecoin market, which currently lacks the robust post-trade infrastructure found in traditional FX markets. By deploying on the Canton Network – an ecosystem including major institutions such as Goldman Sachs and the LSEG – ClearToken positions its services at the intersection of regulated finance and institutional blockchain. All platforms will be operated by entities within the ClearToken group that are either authorised by the FCA or supervised by the Bank of England.

Launched in December 2025, these services form a modular post-trade stack. While CT Pay and CT Settle are currently active, future expansions will include a central counterparty (CCP) clearing service, CT Clear, pending further regulatory authorisation. This integrated approach allows institutional participants to adopt specific modules independently or utilise the full end-to-end platform for programmable, auditable settlement workflows.

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.