HSBC London Banking Week Day 3

Session one: Securities Services Leadership Forum

Day three’s morning session of HSBC London Banking Week brought together industry leaders to debate the vast amount of change impacting securities services right now.

With the pace of change faster than ever before, Fiona Horsewill, Global Head, Securities Services, opened the session by stressing the importance for organisations and investors to react with innovation, build in the resilience needed to deliver, and ensure they are well-positioned to take the broader market ecosystem to the next level.

Digital assets and tokenisation move beyond the hype

A prominent theme was that one of the biggest changes impacting the industry right now is the emergence of digital assets and tokenisation across capital markets.

Daragh Maher, Head of Digital Assets Research and Senior FX Strategist told the conference: "This is not really future money. This is right here, right now. The train has already left the station.”

He said tokenisation is gaining momentum because it solves “real-world problems” – further adding that it enables the instantaneous movement of value at very low cost, while creating opportunities for automated transactions, supply-chain payments and more efficient settlement processes. The real breakthrough comes when tokenised money interacts with tokenised assets, delegates heard – enabling “atomic instant settlement” and significantly reducing the friction, delays and reconciliation requirements that exist in traditional financial markets.

Comparing traditional financial systems with tokenised markets, Maher suggested that if markets were built today from scratch, few people would choose a model characterised by cut-off times, delayed settlement and fragmented record-keeping. As a result, he believes the direction of travel is inevitable and that tokenisation will become the dominant infrastructure of capital markets.

However, he stressed that significant work remains before widespread adoption can occur. One of the most important challenges is interoperability – ensuring that different forms of tokenised money can interact seamlessly across institutions and jurisdictions. He highlighted wholesale central bank digital currencies and tokenised deposits as important mechanisms for enabling different financial ecosystems to communicate with one another.

Securities services providers become strategic partners

Another emerging theme was that securities services providers are evolving beyond their traditional role as transaction processors and custodians to become strategic partners that help clients navigate complexity, improve efficiency and unlock value from data.

While safe custody, resilience and execution remain fundamental, clients increasingly expect providers to offer proactive support, greater transparency and deeper integration into their operating models.

Partnership was defined not by service delivery alone, but by the ability to anticipate client needs, support market change and help solve business challenges.

Looking ahead, panellists suggested that no single factor will define the leading providers. Instead, success will depend on combining scale and operational resilience with strong connectivity, interoperability, high-quality data and modern technology. The ability to deliver a superior client experience, leverage AI effectively and invest continuously in future capabilities were identified as key differentiators over the next five to ten years.

Blurring asset classes force a rethink of strategies

A final key theme from the event was how the growth of multi-asset strategies along with increasing demand for private markets, digital assets and tokenised products, is forcing asset managers to rethink both investment strategies and operating models.

Delegates heard that rather than managing asset classes in isolation, firms are increasingly focused on delivering integrated client solutions that combine public and private assets within a single portfolio – blurring the traditional boundaries between asset classes.

“As private assets become more accessible, more marketable, and easier to explain to the end investor, I think that multi-asset approach will continue to evolve and continue to grow,” Davina Goodall-Smith, Chief Operating Officer, Royal London Asset Management, told delegates.

However, this convergence is creating significant operational challenges – not least as public and private markets continue to rely on different technologies, processes, reporting frameworks and data structures. As a result, firms are investing heavily in scalable data architectures, flexible operating models and technology platforms capable of supporting multiple asset types.

AI, tokenisation and digitalisation were identified as important long-term areas of focus for asset managers, while collaboration with service providers was seen as essential for helping firms scale efficiently, manage risk and bring new investment products to market more quickly.

For more insights from our events throughout June, click here.