DTCC sets 2026 agenda on tokenisation, AI & T+1 shift
DTCC has set out a wide-ranging agenda for 2026 that places digital assets, regulatory change, risk management and post-trade modernisation at the centre of its plans for global financial markets.
The market infrastructure provider reported record activity across its clearing, settlement and post-trade services in 2025, against a backdrop of geopolitical tensions, trade frictions and evolving regulation. Executives said these pressures are reshaping how banks and investors manage capital, liquidity and operational risk.
Frank La Salla, President, CEO and Director, said global volatility and regulatory change had combined to test the financial system over the past year. "2025 tested the global financial system as geopolitical tensions, trade issues and an evolving regulatory landscape amplified uncertainty across markets globally. We saw record increases in values, trading volumes and issuances due to continued volatility, which resulted in a greater need for intermediation and bank capital. However, stricter capital and margin requirements have increased the cost of holding inventory, reducing the capacity for banks to invest, lend and provide liquidity to their clients."
He said DTCC is pursuing a multi-track plan that includes work with CME on cross-margining, enhancements in tri-party repo and progress on a Supplemental Liquidity Deposit initiative. La Salla highlighted rapid developments in digital assets over the past year and said DTCC would deepen its role in this area in 2026. "As we look to 2026, DTCC will continue to serve as a strategic partner to the industry by fostering collaboration to build an open, scalable and efficient ecosystem for tokenized assets. We're excited to help innovate for the industry and to empower our participants and their clients to tokenize."
Cloud and AI push
Modernisation of core technology and greater use of artificial intelligence sit at the heart of DTCC's operational plans. The group is moving more critical clearance and settlement applications into public cloud environments and is expanding automation and security features on its cloud platform.
"In 2026, modernization remains central to our mission as we continue our multi-year transformation to strengthen and advance our technology platform, with a focus on our strategic cloud journey and the growing influence and adoption of artificial intelligence," said Lynn Bishop, Managing Director and Chief Information Officer, DTCC.
Bishop said DTCC is deploying AI agents and coding tools across the organisation. "We've made great strides - just in the last year, we've begun the process of maturing into an AI-driven enterprise where AI agents and coding tools are helping us drive efficiency and operational resiliency. Every AI initiative we pursue is grounded in purpose and responsible governance, and we are already seeing measurable productivity gains while maintaining oversight and control."
Tokenisation plans
DTCC is preparing a tokenisation service for certain real-world assets, following a US regulatory no-action letter. The initiative is aimed at DTC-custodied assets in a permissioned production environment in the second half of 2026 and is based on the firm's ComposerX platforms.
"2025 marked a pivotal year for DTCC as we advanced our digital asset solutions, driving innovation in market infrastructure and decentralized finance," said Nadine Chakar, Managing Director and Global Head of DTCC Digital Assets. She said DTCC's "Great Collateral Experiment" had shown how distributed ledger technology could support collateral mobility and unlock value from inactive assets.
Chakar said the company would keep pushing digital asset work across the industry. "In 2026, DTCC intends to continue advancing robust digital asset solutions across the industry to help define and enable the future of finance. We believe DLT has the potential to reshape markets, and together with the industry, DTCC aims to drive the development of an interoperable digital asset ecosystem that complements the traditional financial system and is designed to operate in a safe, efficient and compliant manner for the benefit of market participants."
Risk and regulation
DTCC's risk leadership expects 2026 to feature intersecting stress points, including geopolitics, liquidity fragmentation and cyber threats. The firm's Systemic Risk Barometer shows geopolitical instability as the top risk for a fourth year. Artificial intelligence and cyber risk also remain in focus.
"In 2026, we will continue to play a critical role mitigating risk for the industry as markets extend their trading hours, adopt new technologies, address emerging cyber threats, and expand into digital products," said Tim Cuddihy, Managing Director and Group Chief Risk Officer. He said market participants need forward-looking risk frameworks and described risk management as "a proactive discipline, rather than a defensive function".
Derivatives reporting rules are also shifting. North American regimes are expected to update trade reporting standards and supervisors remain focused on data quality. "In 2026, financial institutions will continue to face regulatory change around derivatives trade reporting requirements, with more updates expected in North America and a continued global regulatory focus on data quality," said Michele Hillery, Managing Director and Head of Repository and Derivatives Services.
Hillery said firms would assess existing processes as supervisors seek simplification and burden reduction. She pointed to DTCC's recent work on Canadian and Hong Kong reporting rewrites, European schema changes and the migration of trade ingestion to the cloud. DTCC's MiFIR Approved Reporting Mechanism, analytics tools and a new testing simulator sit within the firm's response to these changes.
Clearing, collateral and US Treasuries
Fixed income activity through DTCC's Fixed Income Clearing Corporation continued to grow ahead of expanded US Treasury central clearing rules. Average daily volume at the Government Securities Division increased from about USD $9.1 trillion at the end of 2024 to more than USD $13.2 trillion on 1 December 2025. There were multiple days above USD $12 trillion.
Participation in FICC's Sponsored Service and Agent Clearing Service exceeded 8,000 indirect participant relationships. Buyside daily volumes in these services reached USD $3.1 trillion on 31 December, which DTCC said delivered almost USD $1.4 trillion in balance sheet capacity for the industry on the same day.
"The U.S. Treasury clearing rules represent one of the most significant market structure shifts in decades, and the industry's strong engagement with FICC underscores its confidence in the benefits of our offerings, access models and a centrally cleared marketplace," said Laura Klimpel, Managing Director and Head of Fixed Income and Financing Solutions.
She highlighted a new Collateral-in-Lieu service under the Sponsored General Collateral offering, and recent regulatory approval for an Agent Clearing Service that leverages cleared triparty repo. FICC will develop more access models in 2026, subject to regulatory sign-off, and is working with CME Group to extend cross-margining beyond direct members.
Post-trade and wealth
Across post-trade services, DTCC said clients are balancing compressed margins with structural change, including US Treasury clearing reforms, accelerated settlement, 24x5 trading, AI adoption and tokenisation. Consulting services are targeting institutions seeking to recast back-office functions.
"Whether it's U.S. Treasury clearing, accelerated settlement, 24x5 trading, Artificial Intelligence (AI), or tokenization, organizations are under pressure to modernize while managing tighter margins. The question isn't whether to act, but what to prioritize," said Rebecca Ashton, Head of DTCC Consulting. She said DTCC processes USD $3.8 quadrillion in securities annually and that consulting work draws on operational staff from core business lines.
Wealth management trends are also reshaping infrastructure demands. DTCC highlights growth in private markets, the expansion of guaranteed income products and new access routes to alternative assets. "Looking to 2026, we are seeing structural trends continue to converge: accelerated growth in private markets, heightened demand for seamless digital experiences, and the continued evolution of the wealth ecosystem due to shifting demographics," said Talia Klein, Managing Director and Head of Wealth Management Services.
Klein cited upcoming enhancements to Fund/SERV that will integrate ETF and mutual fund processing and reduce cycle times. She said the changes will enable real-time data sharing.
T+1 and 24x5 trading
DTCC expects 2026 to be a key preparation year for Europe's move to T+1 settlement in 2027. The firm said Europe's more fragmented market structure sets different challenges from the US shift in 2024 and that high levels of automation will be needed for same-day allocation and confirmation.
"2026 will be a critical year for Europe's transition to T+1 settlement. The European Union, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and the UK have all set October 11, 2027, as their go-live date," said Val Wotton, Managing Director and Global Head of Equities Solutions. "Successful T+1 preparation across the region demands automation. Manual interventions and bottlenecks in post-trade processes need to be addressed to enable same-day trade allocation and confirmation."
Wotton said DTCC is working with exchanges, regulators and partners on plans for 24x5 trading and that this would lay a basis for potential 24x7 models in future. From the second quarter of 2026, DTCC's equities clearing subsidiary plans to increase clearing hours, subject to regulatory review and approval.
Data and market infrastructure
DTCC also expects a significant rise in market data volume and complexity. Efforts are under way to develop more unified data structures and increase automation.
"In 2026, the volume, complexity, and speed of market data will surge as new technologies reshape the landscape, making the ability to convert raw data into actionable intelligence more critical than ever," said Tim Lind, Managing Director of DTCC Data Services.
Lind said DTCC is using automation, AI and other technologies in its data services and is promoting a more standardised approach across the industry.
Across the group, executives said they will prioritise innovation in digital assets, collateral and data, while they respond to regulatory change and prepare for extended trading hours and shortened settlement cycles through 2026 and beyond.
