Citi Securities Services Evolution 2025

Securities Services Evolution 2025 | 45 Conclusion 2025 is undoubtedly a pivotal year on many fronts, with this year’s efforts likely to transform into the following dynamics in the near future: • A shift in focus on FMI platform transitions as part of a new business-as-usual, moving away from once-in-a-generation transitions to ongoing industry change programs • New, competitive CSDmodels that drive tailored solutions, capable of winning RFPs to service institutional and (neo-)retail investors • Investments into trade cycle automation that move beyond simply removing one day from settlement cycles – enabling round-the- clock trading and the processes necessary to support this (across settlements, funding, asset servicing and elsewhere) • Increasing T+1-related workloads as markets across Europe, Asia Pacific and Africa continue to scope out and plan their own T+1 transitions, including specific nuances in each one • New T+1-driven pressures on settlement discipline , with new solutions being put in place at regulatory and market levels to ensure >99% levels of trade settlement • Accelerating adoption of digital money mechanisms as live payment mechanisms across the securities lifecycle, including the use of money market funds as digital money • Widespread, live adoption of DLT and tokenization in the collateral market and in money market funds , with significant percentages of institutional turnover being managed through FMI-based platforms • New forms of asset servicing discussions that involve a wider range of stakeholders than ever (including investment banks, transfer agents and investors) • Advanced deployments of GenAI in core areas (such as client onboarding), providing continuing insights into the opportunities and challenges of this technology in a live context. After five years of documenting the evolution of the securities post trade industry around the world, these trends and challenges have never been more equally shared by firms around the globe. If you are working in the post-trade space in 2025, you are most likely feeling more stretched than ever by the volume of mission-critical projects that are on the horizon. With T+1 workloads at a historical high, DLT and digital assets transforming markets such as collateral and funds, stablecoins delivering balance sheet transformation and GenAI offering new answers to a range of old questions, there is much that needs to be done if firms are to keep step with their peers.