PostTrade 360° Impressions & SIBOS Outlook

Ten years ago, post-trade was largely discussed in terms of cost, efficiency and risk reduction. Today, it is increasingly recognized as a value-generating business function and a vital part of the infrastructure on which capital markets depend.

That shift was one of the clearest impressions our RBI Group Prime Services delegation took away from this year’s PostTrade 360° event in Stockholm. Across panels, presentations and conversations with industry peers, we saw an industry that is becoming more confident in its strategic role and more ambitious about its future.

Post-trade may still begin after a transaction is executed, but its relevance extends far beyond processing. It supports market access, safeguards assets, enables liquidity, and helps clients navigate increasingly complex markets. When it works well, it can strengthen client relationships and create new business opportunities. When it does not, the consequences can extend across the entire financial system.

Post-trade is therefore no longer simply supporting the business. It is becoming an increasingly important part of the business itself.

This change in perception has developed gradually. Capital markets have become more interconnected, transaction volumes have grown, and regulatory requirements have become more demanding. At the same time, clients expect greater transparency, faster access to information, and a more seamless experience across markets.

Reliable settlement and asset servicing remain fundamental, but they are now the starting point rather than the full proposition. Clients also expect market expertise, high-quality data and practical support in navigating local requirements. They want partners who can reduce complexity and connect individual services into a coherent solution.

This is where post-trade can create value. Strong capabilities can improve the client experience, support access to new markets, and contribute to long-term business growth. What was once viewed predominantly as a cost center is increasingly developing into a value-generating function and, in some business models, a profit center in its own right.

This development also changes how post-trade is viewed within financial institutions. Investment in infrastructure, technology and expertise is no longer only about lowering operational costs. It is increasingly about building capabilities that support competitiveness and future growth.

Artificial intelligence and automation were among the most prominent themes in Stockholm. The discussions, however, felt different from those of a few years ago.

The industry is beginning to move beyond asking what AI might eventually make possible. The more relevant questions now concern implementation: Where can it solve a real problem? How can its benefits be measured? And how can it be introduced responsibly into processes where accuracy, control, and trust are essential?

Post-trade offers many potential applications. Its processes generate large volumes of data and often involve reconciliations, exception handling and operational decision-making across several systems and organizations. AI and automation could help identify patterns earlier, improve data quality and allow specialists to focus on cases that genuinely require their expertise.

However, replacing isolated manual steps with technology is not enough. The greater opportunity lies in reviewing the process as a whole and identifying where technology can make it simpler, faster and more reliable.

This is also where operational resilience enters the discussion. The more financial markets depend on interconnected systems and automated processes, the more important it becomes to ensure that those systems remain secure, available, and dependable. AI and automation may be key drivers of the industry’s next phase, but resilience will determine whether that progress is sustainable.

Innovation and resilience can therefore no longer be treated as separate ambitions. The challenge is to advance both at the same time.

The strategic rise of post-trade has another consequence: greater regulatory attention.

This is hardly surprising. As post-trade functions become more central to market stability, their ability to withstand disruption becomes a matter of broader importance. Operational resilience, cybersecurity, settlement efficiency, and risk management are no longer specialist concerns discussed only within operations teams. They have become questions for senior management, regulators, and the wider market.

It would be easy to view this development only as an additional compliance burden. Yet it also reflects how significantly the industry’s role has evolved. Regulators are paying closer attention to post-trade because it has become more influential and more critical to the functioning of capital markets.

With that influence comes responsibility. The industry must continue to innovate, but it must do so within operating models that are transparent, well governed, and resilient.

The debate around shorter settlement cycles provided a useful example of the industry’s increasingly pragmatic approach.

As markets continue to adapt to accelerated settlement, attention is already moving towards the possibility of T+0. From a technology perspective, same-day settlement may appear to be the logical next step. From the perspective of institutional investors, however, the picture is more complex.

The relevant question is not simply whether T+0 is technically possible. It is whether the additional benefits would justify the scale of investment and operational change required across the market.

The impression we took from the discussions in Stockholm was one of caution. For many institutional market participants, the current need does not appear to compensate for the investment required. Funding models, foreign exchange processes, time-zone differences, and existing operating structures would all need to be considered. The benefits and costs would also not be distributed equally across the market.

This does not mean that settlement processes should remain unchanged. On the contrary, the industry should continue improving efficiency and reducing risk. But progress should be guided by a clear business case and a realistic understanding of clients’ needs, rather than by speed alone.

Before pursuing further acceleration at substantial cost, there may be greater and more immediate value in simplifying the processes that already exist.

This brings us to perhaps the most consistent message from PostTrade 360°: the need for greater process unification and optimization.

The post-trade landscape remains fragmented. Market practices, data formats, local requirements, and operational processes continue to differ across jurisdictions and infrastructures. Every variation may have a legitimate history, but together they create complexity, cost, and operational risk. Technology can help manage that complexity, but it should not become a way of preserving inefficient processes indefinitely.

The industry also needs to ask whether those processes can be aligned, standardized or removed. Greater interoperability and more consistent market practices would not only generate efficiencies. They would provide a stronger foundation for automation, AI, and future innovation.

This matters because innovation is most valuable when clients can feel the difference. New technology may be impressive, but its real value lies in making a process easier to understand, simpler to access or more reliable to use.

At RBI Group Prime Services, this idea resonates strongly with our own approach. Sustainable progress does not always come from adding something new. Sometimes it comes from removing an unnecessary step, connecting existing capabilities more effectively, or making a complex process feel simple for the client.

Another impression from Stockholm was that both the industry and the conversations surrounding it are becoming more international. Post-trade may be organized around individual markets and infrastructures, but its most pressing challenges increasingly cross national and regional boundaries. AI, resilience, settlement acceleration, regulatory change, and process harmonization cannot be considered from a purely local perspective.

As the strategic importance of post-trade continues to grow, we expect the community around PostTrade 360° to grow with it. Over the next five years, the event has the potential to develop into an even more international forum, connecting perspectives from a broader range of markets and institutions.

That evolution would be valuable. Many of the industry’s challenges are shared, even if their local expression differs. Bringing together more international perspectives can help identify common ground and support solutions that work across the wider ecosystem.

With the impressions from Stockholm still fresh, our focus now turns to the Sibos Conference. For RBI Group Prime Services, Sibos an opportunity to test our observations against a wider international perspective and to understand which developments are moving from industry ambition towards practical implementation.

The official theme, Digital finance for AI-driven economies, is closely connected to many of the questions raised at PostTrade 360°. For us, however, Sibos will not be about discussing AI in isolation. It will be about understanding what the technology means in practice for our clients, our partners, and the infrastructure supporting financial markets.

We want to hear where AI is already creating measurable value and where expectations still exceed what can realistically be delivered. We want to understand how institutions address governance, data quality and accountability as AI moves into more operationally significant areas.

We will also be looking for signals about how the industry intends to balance innovation with resilience. As systems become more connected and processes more automated, trust will depend on the ability to maintain stability and control. The institutions that succeed will not necessarily be those that adopt every new technology first. It will be those that introduce it purposefully, with a clear client benefit, and a resilient operating model behind it.

Just as importantly, we want to understand whether the industry is ready to simplify itself. Technologies may change quickly, but fragmented processes and inconsistent standards can endure for years. Meaningful progress will require more than investment in individual solutions. It will require market participants to collaborate, align processes, and address complexity across organizational boundaries.

Above all, Sibos gives us an opportunity to listen. Conversations with clients and partners provide the clearest indication of where priorities are changing, which challenges remain unresolved, and where our own strategy needs to evolve.

We will approach these discussions with clear views, but also with an openness to challenge our assumptions. That is where the real value of Sibos lies: in bringing together different perspectives that can shape what comes next.

The journey from Stockholm to Sibos reflects a broader journey taking place across our industry. Ten years ago, the central challenge for post-trade was efficiency. Today, it is about finding the right balance between efficiency, intelligence, and resilience.

AI and automation can help the industry operate more effectively. Greater standardization can remove friction and create stronger foundations for innovation. Resilient infrastructures can maintain the trust on which capital markets depend. None of these developments, however, will reach its full potential in isolation.

The next chapter of post-trade will require technology, expertise, and collaboration to advance together. It will also require the industry to remain focused on the outcome that ultimately matters most: creating meaningful value for clients and supporting capital markets that are efficient, secure, and accessible.

Post-trade may once have worked largely behind the scenes. Today, it is stepping into the spotlight. Its fundamental purpose has not changed, but the market has come to recognize just how essential that purpose has always been.