CFTC Moves to Defend Federal Perimeter for Prediction Markets

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sued the State of Wisconsin after the state brought civil actions against Kalshi, Polymarket, Crypto.com, Robinhood and Coinbase over prediction market activity.

The action, filed on 28 April 2026, extends a widening federal-state dispute over the regulatory treatment of event contracts. The CFTC argues that Congress gave the agency exclusive jurisdiction over specified derivatives products, including event contracts traded on designated contract markets (DCMs), and that states cannot use gambling laws to disrupt federally regulated market activity.

The Wisconsin case follows similar CFTC action against New York, after that state also sued prediction market operators. The Commission has also filed lawsuits against Connecticut and Illinois and has intervened through amicus briefs in cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts.

“States cannot circumvent the clear directive of Congress,” said CFTC Chairman Michael S. Selig. “Our message to Wisconsin is the same as to New York, Arizona, and others: if you interfere with the operation of federal law in regulating financial markets, we will sue you.”

The dispute is becoming an important test of the regulatory perimeter around prediction markets. For regulated venues and intermediaries, the outcome could determine whether sports-related event contracts remain primarily a federal derivatives-market issue or face a more fragmented state-by-state enforcement environment. The CFTC has already secured a temporary restraining order in Arizona blocking a state criminal prosecution against a CFTC-regulated company, giving the agency an early procedural win in its broader jurisdictional campaign.

FIS and Anthropic Target AML Investigations with Agentic AI

FIS is working with Anthropic to bring agentic AI into banking operations, starting with a Financial Crimes AI Agent designed to support anti-money laundering investigations. The agent is intended to assemble evidence from bank systems, evaluate activity against known typologies and surface higher-risk cases for investigator review, with BMO and Amalgamated Bank among the first institutions working with the agent. Broader availability is planned for the second half of 2026.

The initiative points to a more governed model for AI in financial crime compliance, where the agent is not positioned as a replacement for investigators but as a way to reduce manual evidence gathering across fragmented systems. FIS says the agent will operate within FIS-controlled infrastructure, with client data remaining inside that environment and agent outputs traceable and auditable. That governance layer is likely to be a key consideration for banks evaluating whether agentic AI can be used in regulated investigative workflows.

Financial crime has been selected as the first use case because of the operational burden AML teams face. FIS cites the United Nations estimate that $2 trillion in illicit funds flows through the global financial system each year and says US financial institutions spend $35–40 billion annually on AML operations. Much of that work remains tied to manual evidence assembly before investigators can make risk-based decisions.

The Financial Crimes AI Agent is designed to connect securely to relevant bank systems, whether run by FIS or the bank, and compile the case evidence at the point an investigation is opened. The objective is to reduce case review time, lower low-value manual work and support investigative and suspicious activity report (SAR) narrative quality, while keeping final decisions with investigators.

Stephanie Ferris, CEO and President of FIS, linked the initiative to FIS’s role as data, governance and orchestration layer for bank AI deployment. “Every bank in the world wants AI that acts, not just assists. The future is about a trusted provider who manages the data, who governs the agents, and who stands between your customers and the AI making decisions about their money. FIS built the architecture that orchestrates this intelligence.”

Anthropic’s Applied AI team and forward-deployed engineers are working with FIS to co-design the financial crimes agent, combining Claude’s reasoning capabilities with FIS’s banking data, regulatory infrastructure, and compliance and fraud systems. Jonathan Pelosi, Head of Financial Services at Anthropic, said: “FIS brings decades of trusted relationships with financial institutions, deep regulatory knowledge, and the transaction data that makes an AI agent useful in practice. That’s why FIS chose Claude, they needed a model that could reason through complex investigations accurately, explain its work, and operate safely inside regulated workflows.”

The financial crimes agent is the first step in a broader agent roadmap. FIS says future use cases will include credit decisioning, deposit retention, customer onboarding and fraud prevention, delivered through a single governed platform. For banks, the development reflects growing pressure to move beyond AI pilots toward more operationally embedded tools that can satisfy compliance, auditability, data governance and human oversight requirements.

Eventus Names Cameron Routh CEO as Surveillance Vendor Prepares for Next Growth Phase

Eventus has appointed Cameron Routh as chief executive officer, placing a financial technology executive with more than two decades of experience in software and data businesses at the head of the trade surveillance and financial risk technology provider.

Routh succeeds founder Travis Schwab, who has led Eventus for 11 years and overseen the development of its Validus platform for trade surveillance across equities, options, futures, foreign exchange, fixed income and digital asset markets. The appointment comes against a market backdrop in which surveillance providers are under pressure to support broader asset-class coverage, higher trading volumes and more scalable monitoring controls.

Routh’s immediate priorities point to a combination of commercial expansion, client support and product investment. He said: “We are going to expand our global commercial and support presence and deepen our relationships with the world’s leading financial institutions. At the same time, we will continue to invest in product innovation, AI capabilities and additional functionality of the Validus platform. Our strategic focus as we grow will be on investing in client outcomes and experiences, responsive account management and seamless implementations.”

Terminus Capital Partners is positioned in the release as part of the company’s next growth phase. The firm is described as a growth-oriented private equity firm focused on business-to-business AI and software companies. For surveillance technology firms more broadly, growth is increasingly tied to implementation quality, alert calibration, cross-asset coverage and the ability to support high-volume, near real-time monitoring environments.

Routh most recently served as CEO of Delta Data, a software provider for the public assets pooled fund industry. His earlier roles include Head of Maxit Tax Solutions at Refinitiv, now part of London Stock Exchange Group, and senior leadership positions at Scivantage, where he helped develop the firm’s tax and analytics business. Earlier in his career, he co-founded GainsKeeper, which was later acquired by Wolters Kluwer.

Routh said: “Travis and the team have done an extraordinary job of developing scalable software that can meet the needs of the world’s largest financial institutions while also providing unparalleled expertise and collaboration with clients in fulfilling their objectives. I’m excited to be part of the Eventus team and partner with clients to lead the firm into the next phase of growth.”

Eventus said its Validus platform is used by tier-one banks, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants, proprietary trading groups, market centres, buy-side institutions, energy and commodity trading firms, and regulators. The company positions the platform around trade surveillance and financial risk monitoring across complex, high-volume and real-time trading environments.

DTCC Expands Board with Senior Market Structure, Treasury and Operations Leaders

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has appointed four senior financial services executives to its Board of Directors, reinforcing governance oversight across market infrastructure, risk, and post-trade operations.

The new appointees – Roland Chai (Nasdaq), Massimiliano Ciardi (Citadel), Stephen Hood (Marex), and Georges Lauchard (Barclays) – bring experience spanning exchange operations, treasury and funding, clearing, and large-scale technology transformation. Their appointments come at a point where post-trade infrastructures are under increasing regulatory and operational scrutiny, particularly around resilience, margining, liquidity risk, and the integration of digital asset workflows.

Chai, currently President of European Markets and Head of Digital Assets at Nasdaq, contributes experience across trading venues, central counterparties (CCPs), and central securities depositories (CSDs), alongside a background as the firm’s first Global Chief Risk Officer. His profile aligns with ongoing industry efforts to align traditional market infrastructure with emerging digital asset models.

Ciardi, Global Treasurer at Citadel, brings a treasury and balance sheet management perspective, covering liquidity, counterparty exposure, and capital optimisation. This is directly relevant as clearing houses and market utilities continue to assess funding pressures under stressed conditions, including intraday liquidity demands and margin procyclicality.

Hood, Americas Head of Clearing at Marex, adds operational clearing expertise across futures and options, alongside exposure to digital asset clearing and tokenisation frameworks – areas increasingly intersecting with regulatory discussions on market structure and custody.

Lauchard, Chief Operating Officer of Barclays Investment Bank, contributes experience in large-scale technology and operations transformation, including control frameworks and infrastructure modernisation. This is particularly relevant as market infrastructures and participants invest in cloud migration, data standardisation, and automation to meet evolving supervisory expectations.

The DTCC Board of Directors is currently composed of 21 Directors. Of these, 13 are participant Directors who represent clearing agency members, including international broker/dealers, custodian and clearing banks, and investment institutions; four are non-participant Directors; two Directors are designated by DTCC’s preferred shareholders, ICE and FINRA; and the remaining two Board members are DTCC’s Non-Executive Chairman and its President and Chief Executive Officer.

From a RegTech and supervisory perspective, the appointments underscore several themes. First, the increasing convergence between market infrastructure governance and regulatory priorities, particularly around operational resilience and systemic risk. Second, the growing importance of treasury and liquidity expertise at board level, as regulators focus on stress preparedness and collateral dynamics. Third, the integration of digital assets into mainstream infrastructure discussions, requiring governance that spans both traditional and emerging asset classes.

Funds-Axis Strengthens Operations as It Scales Internationally

Global investment manager RegTech provider Funds-Axis has appointed Chris Machin as Chief Operating Officer, a move that signals a shift from build-phase momentum to operational scale. The London-based regulatory technology and investment compliance specialist is positioning itself for disciplined international growth, with Machin tasked to lead the operational architecture behind that expansion.

The firm describes the appointment as part of its next phase of global development. Machin brings experience in scaling high-growth technology businesses and structuring delivery frameworks within regulated environments. His remit spans operational strategy, client delivery, platform scalability and organisational development — areas that become critical as RegTech providers move from product-market fit to repeatable cross-border execution.

Chief Executive Officer Darren Burrows framed the hire in the context of execution. “Chris joins us at a pivotal moment,” he said. “We have assembled a great team and built a leading technology platform in Galaxy which has proven its value with clients across our key product modules. Our focus now is disciplined growth and execution – expanding internationally and continuing to deliver market-leading regulatory solutions. Chris brings the operational leadership to further strengthen our leadership team and support our ambition – I am delighted to welcome him on board”.

The reference to Galaxy is notable. Funds-Axis has built its proposition around integrating regulatory intelligence, workflow and technology into a unified compliance platform. As regulatory obligations expand across jurisdictions, operational resilience and scalable delivery models become differentiators as much as product functionality.

Machin’s own remarks suggest continuity rather than reinvention. “Funds-Axis has a clear vision, strong values, and a commitment to excellence. I am excited to join at such a pivotal time in its growth. Funds-Axis has successfully combined regulatory intelligence, robust technology and operational workflow into the Galaxy solution. I look forward to working with the team to scale the business, deepen client and partner relationships and drive global, sustainable growth”.

In practical terms, this signals a focus on institutionalising growth: formalising processes, strengthening governance, and ensuring that client delivery models remain robust as the firm expands into new markets. For RegTech vendors operating in investment compliance, scaling is not only about acquiring clients; it requires maintaining regulatory credibility, auditability and service consistency across jurisdictions.

The appointment therefore reflects a broader pattern across the RegTech sector. As firms mature, operational leadership becomes central to sustaining credibility with global asset managers and regulated institutions. The combination of regulatory domain expertise with disciplined operational execution is increasingly expected, particularly where solutions support core compliance workflows.

Funds-Axis positions the move as reinforcing its commitment to “building institutional-grade solutions – combining regulatory expertise, scalable technology, and operational excellence to solve increasing global regulatory compliance requirements.” Read in context, that commitment translates into a governance and delivery challenge: ensuring that product innovation is matched by operational control.

For Funds-Axis, the arrival of a COO at this stage suggests that the next phase is less about launch announcements and more about structured expansion — embedding process, scaling responsibly and aligning platform growth with the operational demands of a global client base.

UK Appoints Barclays Policy Chief Katharine Braddick as Banking Watchdog

Katharine Braddick will succeed Sam Woods when his term concludes in June 2026 as the next Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation and Chief Executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The role carries direct responsibility for supervising banks, building societies, insurers and major investment firms. The role is also charged with shaping how prudential standards evolve in a more explicitly growth-oriented policy climate.

Braddick arrives from Barclays, where she serves as Group Head of Strategic Policy and senior adviser to the CEO. Her background spans both the private sector and senior public service, including time at HM Treasury as Director of Financial Services with responsibility for international and European dossiers. That combination—City practitioner and policy architect—is likely to shape expectations of how the PRA balances resilience with competitiveness.

The appointment signals that regulators are expected to be “robust on resilience and ambitious on growth”, reflecting Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s remit to support investment, lending and innovation while maintaining standards. In practice, this builds on a series of measures already advanced by the PRA including the removal of 37 reporting templates — a change projected to save firms around £26 million annually.

Chancellor Reeves described Braddick as “an accomplished pro-business leader with the experience to keep our financial system safe while backing the investment and lending that drives growth,”  adding that “She understands the City and regulation and will help ensure the UK remains one of the best places in the world to do business.” Reeves also acknowledged Woods’ tenure, stating: “I want to thank Sam Woods for his dedicated service and the strength he has brought to the UK’s prudential regime. Katharine will build on that record—keeping standards high while driving a competitive, growth-focused approach to regulation.”

Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey struck a similar tone, saying: “I am very happy to welcome Katharine Braddick back to the Bank as Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation.” He noted that “Katharine has vast experience both in the public and private sectors, and I am confident that she will lead the PRA with great ambition and skill, maintaining strong regulatory foundations to underpin a growing financial sector and a thriving economy.” He also thanked Woods “for his many years of hard work at the PRA”.

Braddick will take up the role on 1 July for a five-year term. As Deputy Governor for Prudential Regulation, she will sit on the Prudential Regulation Committee, the Financial Policy Committee and the Court of the Bank of England, positioning her at the centre of both micro-prudential supervision and macro-prudential policy deliberation.

Leadership Change at OneTrust Signals Next Phase of AI-Ready Governance Strategy

Atlanta based regulatory solutions company OneTrust has appointed John Heyman as chief executive officer, marking a leadership transition as the company positions itself for its next phase of growth in data and AI governance. Founder Kabir Barday will remain involved in a strategic advisory capacity through his role on the board.

The change follows what the company describes as strong performance in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, and comes as demand rises for governance frameworks that can support enterprise AI adoption. As Barday noted, “Growing adoption of AI across organizations has led to massive demand for OneTrust solutions that help enable the responsible use of data and AI.” He characterised the moment as a turning point for the business, adding: “This is a pivotal time to bring on a new CEO who can harness this momentum and drive OneTrust’s next chapter of growth.”

Heyman steps into the role with prior CEO experience at Radiant Systems and Snap One, where he led both companies through periods of expansion and public listings. His mandate at OneTrust centres on scaling what it terms its AI-Ready Governance platform at a time when enterprises are reassessing how data management, privacy, and AI oversight intersect. “It’s rare to come across an opportunity like OneTrust–a company that has built a strong foundation, achieved scale, and positioned itself to define one of the most important emerging markets with AI-Ready Governance,” Heyman said. He added that “OneTrust’s mission to enable innovation through the responsible use of data and AI has never been more critical.”

The broader context is a market in which AI governance is moving from policy discussion to operational requirement. Organisations are under pressure to demonstrate accountability, transparency and control over AI-enabled processes, particularly as regulatory scrutiny intensifies across jurisdictions. In that environment, platforms that combine data governance, privacy management and AI oversight are becoming embedded in core risk and compliance architectures.

Board member Thomas Laffont, co-founder of Coatue, framed the opportunity in infrastructure terms: “AI has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity for OneTrust to become mission-critical infrastructure – the governance layer every organization needs for data and AI. We are proud to continue to be a significant investor in the company through this evolution.” He added that “John’s experience innovating, transforming, and driving company growth at pivotal market moments positions OneTrust well to execute on the opportunity ahead.”

The transition signals continuity in strategy, with Barday remaining engaged at board level, but also an intent to operationalise growth around AI governance at scale. For customers, the focus remains on enabling innovation while maintaining control over data and AI risk – an agenda that is becoming central to enterprise technology strategy.

Kaizen RegTech Group Refines Leadership Roles to Support Continued Growth

Kaizen RegTech Group has adjusted leadership responsibilities within its existing structure as the business scales across regulatory reporting and related services. Dario Crispini remains Group Chief Executive Officer, retaining responsibility for overall strategy and growth, while continuing to lead regulatory reporting product development and innovation and staying closely engaged with clients and market initiatives.

As part of the changes, Michael Leach has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Kaizen Reporting, the group’s core regulatory reporting business. The shift reflects a clearer separation between group-level strategy and the day-to-day leadership of the reporting business as it enters its next phase of development. Crispini described the rationale for the change, stating: “As Kaizen continues to grow, it’s important that we align leadership focus with how the business is evolving. This change allows me to spend more time on group strategy, innovation and client relationships, while Mike leads Kaizen Reporting through its next phase of growth. Mike has been a key part of shaping our commercial direction, and I know the business is in great hands.”

Kaizen Reporting was founded in 2013 and initially focused on automated quality assurance for regulatory reporting. Since then, it has expanded its product set and client base significantly, with adoption across a broad range of financial institutions. Leach joined the firm as Chief Revenue Officer in June 2025, following senior roles at London Stock Exchange Group, where he was involved in the development of UnaVista, now LSEG Regulatory Reporting Solutions.

Commenting on his new role, Leach said: “Kaizen Reporting has an incredibly strong foundation, a clear strategy, and a talented team. I’m excited to lead the business, support our clients, and drive the next phase of growth through continued investment in technology, innovation, and delivery excellence.” The leadership update follows a series of senior appointments, including James Crow as Chief Technology Officer and the addition of Chris Childs and Tim Keady as strategic advisors, underscoring the group’s continued emphasis on technology, execution, and client delivery.

ThetaRay Names Brad Levy CEO as AI Becomes Core to Financial Crime Compliance

ThetaRay has appointed Brad Levy as Chief Executive Officer, marking a leadership transition as the firm moves into its next phase of growth in AI-driven financial crime compliance. Levy joins from Symphony, where he led one of the financial sector’s most widely adopted market infrastructure platforms, and brings long-standing experience in scaling mission-critical technology across global financial institutions.

The appointment comes as banks and FinTechs increasingly reassess their transaction monitoring and due-diligence architectures in response to rising volumes, cross-border complexity, and more sophisticated financial crime typologies. ThetaRay has positioned its Cognitive AI platform as a response to these pressures, focusing on anomaly detection and behavioural analysis across complex transaction flows.

Levy’s background spans multiple generations of financial market infrastructure. Most recently, he served as CEO of Symphony, the secure collaboration platform established by a consortium of global banks and used by hundreds of thousands of financial professionals worldwide. Before that, he held senior leadership roles at IHS Markit, including CEO of MarkitSERV, and spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs, ultimately as Managing Director and Global Head of the Principal Strategic Investments Group.

Reflecting on the industry context behind the move, Levy said:

“The industry is reaching a tipping point, where AI is no longer optional but foundational. My focus is on scaling this platform globally, deepening our partnerships with financial institutions, and embedding compliance as a strategic capability that drives sustainable growth.”

Levy succeeds Peter Reynolds, who has led ThetaRay since June 2023. During that period, the company expanded its enterprise customer base and broadened its product coverage across transaction monitoring and transaction due diligence. Reynolds is stepping down for family reasons and will remain involved in an advisory capacity during a defined transition period.

From a governance and execution perspective, the board views the transition as aligned with ThetaRay’s current stage of development. Chairman Erel Margalit described the shift as one of emphasis rather than direction, noting that the company has reached a point where scale and operational execution are increasingly central. As Margalit put it:

“We have reached a moment where scale, execution, and global impact matter more than ever.”

ThetaRay is backed by a group of global investors including JVP and Portage, reflecting continued investor interest in applied AI platforms focused on regulated financial services use cases. As regulatory scrutiny of transaction monitoring effectiveness and explainability continues to intensify across jurisdictions, the company’s next phase under Levy is expected to focus on broader deployment, deeper institutional integration, and operational resilience at scale.

Innovative Systems Appoints Regional Heads to Scale its Global Partner Ecosystem

Innovative Systems is expanding how it works with partners as part of its next phase of growth, appointing two regional leaders to coordinate and develop its partner ecosystem across the Americas and EMEA.

The company’s partner strategy now centres on tighter collaboration with data providers, orchestration platforms, systems integrators, core technology platforms embedded within FinScan solutions, and strategic partners involved in joint go-to-market and cross-sell initiatives. This shift reflects an emphasis on using partnerships to extend capability and delivery rather than treating them as standalone channels.

As Chief Operating Officer Deborah Overdeput explains, “A strong, well-coordinated partner network is a critical pillar of our growth strategy.” She adds that partners help the company “extend our reach, strengthen our value proposition, accelerate time to market, and enable us to deliver more value to clients together.”

To lead this effort in the Americas, Craig Lippmann has joined as Head of Partnerships. He brings more than 20 years of experience building partner ecosystems across SaaS, fintech, and compliance markets. His background includes alliance and go-to-market leadership roles at Computer Services, Inc. (CSI), Alessa, and Thomson Reuters, where he focused on designing scalable partner programs and integrating them into broader growth strategies.

In EMEA, Steve Emecz has been appointed Head of Partnerships, working in a hybrid capacity from the company’s London office. His experience spans partner and alliance leadership across fintech and technology, with prior roles at Tungsten Automation and Xerox. His work has centred on aligning platform providers, integrators, and technology partners around shared commercial and delivery goals.

Lippmann and Emecz will work closely with sales, product, marketing, and operations teams to embed partner activity into the company’s core go-to-market approach. Their remit includes aligning partner initiatives with customer outcomes and long-term business objectives, rather than treating partnerships as parallel efforts.

Looking ahead, Overdeput said the company views this leadership structure as foundational: “We are excited about the leadership, structure, and momentum Craig and Steve will bring to our partner strategy.” She added, “As we continue to scale globally, our partners will remain essential to how we innovate, deliver, and win in the market.”