Podcast: Investment Operations – Key Issues in 2025
Gary Wright, Director of ISITC Europe looks at some of the investment operations key issues of 2025, with the help of Alan Burr, Chair of the CISI’s Operations Forum Committee, and Richard Leigh, Program Director of Scottish Investment Operations (SIO), plus George Littlejohn, Senior Advisor at the CISI and producer of this podcast.
This is the first of a series of podcasts involving members of the Friday Club, which consists of invited representatives from ISITC Europe, the CISI, the SIO, PIMFA, the IA and ISLA.
In this episode some of the panel discuss the T+1 UK Accelerated Settlement (AST) report and its power or not, to motivate firms to budget for necessary changes or enhancements.
They discussed:
- The need for all firms to budget for T+1 and when these should be set.
- Should there be regulatory enforcement of T+1.
They questioned if the lack of specific rules were an impediment and would not provide enough motivation for firms to engage with T+1projects early enough resulting in a delay in setting budgets.
New technologies like Blockchain and AI were explored, with regards as to how they could be applied to meet the challenges of real-time processing that T+1 requires from all firms.
Data quality and management of various forms of data were considered in the discussion and new architectures that could be applied as a solution for individual firms and market infrastructure.
Market resilience and the DORA regulation were talked about and how the need for real- time management of data quality, not only within firms but industry-wide, would improve market resilience.
Listening time: 31 mins
Richard has over 25 years experience in the Scottish Financial Services sector, operating at a senior level within Operations and Risk Management. He has previously worked for Barclays, Bankers Trust, Deutsche Bank, State Street and Morgan Stanley and has a track record of leading global teams, engaging people, enhancing capabilities and providing excellent service delivery to clients and stakeholders.
He has led teams responsible for Cash Management, Settlements, Asset Servicing and Reconciliations across multiple asset classes and also ran Morgan Stanleys’ European Branches in Paris, Madrid, Frankfurt, Milan, Moscow and Riyadh.
Alan Burr has over 40 years’ international experience of financial markets. He specialises in the securities and derivatives industry, with particular expertise in trading, operations, regulation, risk management, corporate governance, clearing and settlement. He has substantial executive experience with clearing houses, exchanges, international markets and in the management of IT. He is recognised as a leading authority in the field of investment operations and risk management.
Alan is an expert on derivatives, commodities, foreign exchange, fixed income and equities and has contributed to and led many projects to introduce new exchanges. Alan regularly provides education on all aspects of investment operations for examination and general educational purposes. He worked for ICCH (now LCH.Clearnet) as Chief Executive in Hong Kong and Executive Director in London and then for MEFF, the Spanish Financial Futures Exchange. Alan is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI).
George Littlejohn qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC in London before becoming a journalist with The Economist, specialising in financial and economic matters. He is now Senior Adviser at the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI), having conducted advisory work in financial centres across Europe, the Middle East and Asia over the past two decades. He is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh, and the author of a number of works on risk management in finance.
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