FINRA announced today the launch of the Financial Intelligence Fusion Center (FIFC), a secure portal for FINRA and its member firms to share timely intelligence about cybersecurity and fraud threats and coordinate responses. Building on FINRA's continued commitment to help member firms combat cyber and financial crime threats, the FIFC will collect, analyze and disseminate threat intelligence to bolster member firms’ awareness and ability to quickly respond to these threats. The FIFC will also leverage FINRA's existing partnerships, enabling input from other government and private sector partners. The platform was developed as part of FINRA Forward, a series of initiatives to further improve FINRA’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its mission of protecting investors and safeguarding market integrity. As a self-regulatory organization, FINRA is uniquely positioned to work with its member firms to better protect investors and mitigate risk to the securities industry. FINRA began piloting the FIFC last year with a diverse group of member firms, whose participation and feedback have helped strengthen the portal’s functionality and effectiveness for member firms of all sizes. Through the pilot program, member firms have accessed FINRA’s threat intelligence products and actively shared cybersecurity and fraud threat intelligence via the FIFC, enabling timely threat mitigation. FINRA encourages member firms to opt into the FIFC to gain access to this centralized portal for intelligence sharing among firms and FINRA.  The FIFC expands on the range of resources FINRA provides its members, including guidance for establishing cybersecurity programs, addressing vulnerabilities, combating cyber-enabled fraud and identifying emerging scams, among others.  “The Financial Intelligence Fusion Center will be a powerhouse that facilitates timely intelligence sharing to benefit member firms, their customers and the securities industry. As cybersecurity and fraud threats evolve, this type of innovation and coordination with our member firms—which is made possible because of our self-regulatory organization model—is essential in building a more resilient environment. Member firm engagement with the FIFC will bolster that defense system and will strengthen trust in our markets, while better protecting investors,” said Greg Ruppert, Executive Vice President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer at FINRA.  For more information, visit the Financial Intelligence Fusion Center.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance (OIEA) today announced that as part of April’s National Financial Literacy Month it will highlight financial planning tools and resources on Investor.gov to encourage people to build toward financial independence. Throughout April, SEC staff will provide information to help investors as they create a plan to reach their financial goals and pursue their version of financial independence. Key considerations include starting early; living within your means; investing consistently in a long-term, diversified, risk-appropriate plan; paying down high-interest debt; and having an emergency fund. "In the spirit of ​America's 250th anniversary, I encourage individuals and families to reflect on the pivotal role that investing can play in achieving their own financial independence," said SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins. "America's capital markets are the envy of the world, and engaging with them in a risk-appropriate manner can be foundational for a strong financial future." Staff will also provide investors with information about the benefits of long-term investing using tax-advantaged accounts, building wealth, the power of compound growth, avoiding scams and planning for retirement. "Investing early helps Americans build wealth for a strong financial future," said John Moses, Acting Director of the SEC's OIEA. “A great way to get started is to create a long-term, diversified plan that helps investors reach their goals. Building wealth slowly by regularly setting money aside for investments helps investors benefit from compound growth, which can drive life-changing results over time.” OIEA issued an investor bulletin “Investor.gov Tips for 2026” that highlights important information on Investor.gov to help investors make informed investment decisions and avoid investment fraud. Investors can also test their investing knowledge by taking April’s Financial Literacy Month Quiz. SEC outreach events in April include presentations to military service members and veterans; webinars and events providing investor education and fraud prevention information to older adults; and financial education activities for teachers and students. For more information, visit Investor.gov. 

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has launched an initiative to examine the potential for tokenized financial products in the capital markets and is inviting interested parties to the upcoming workshops taking place in Calgary and Toronto on this market innovation. Tokenization is the use of distributed ledger technology for the creation, issuance, or representation of assets. The CSA’s Project Tokenization, an initiative in its CSA Collaboratory, will examine how this technology intersects with Canada’s securities laws, and will support informed, coordinated regulatory responses to it. The CSA supports responsible innovation in the capital markets to enhance Canada’s global competitiveness. Globally, tokenized products are being developed and launched by a broad range of market participants, including financial institutions, asset managers, issuers, market infrastructure providers, and technology developers. In parallel, central banks and regulators are exploring ways to support innovation (such as tokenization) while protecting investors and safeguarding financial stability. Through Project Tokenization, the CSA will work collaboratively with stakeholders to deepen regulatory understanding as tokenization evolves in capital markets. The initial phase of the project will explore the opportunities and risks of tokenization through engagement with stakeholders, issue mapping, and targeted research. Subsequent phases could include a discussion paper or potentially the live testing of tokenized financial instruments and infrastructure within the CSA Collaboratory. Participate in a Tokenization in the Capital Markets workshop The CSA is inviting fintechs, issuers, financial institutions, developers, transfer agents, custodians, marketplaces, clearing agencies/houses, services providers, legal and accounting professionals, academics, and other interested stakeholders to participate in regulatory workshops. Express your interest in engaging with the CSA on Project Tokenization. Calgary workshop: Thursday, April 9, 2026Register here to join the Calgary event. Toronto workshop: Thursday, June 11, 2026Express your interest in attending the Toronto event. About the CSA CollaboratoryThe CSA Collaboratory is a dedicated space for regulators and innovators to leverage and channel collective intelligence in support of Canada’s evolving capital markets. It is the entry point for all Canadian market participants and investors to connect with CSA members to explore and provide feedback on new financial concepts and innovative business models. Insights from the Collaboratory can contribute significantly to regulatory policy development and provide market participants with data that can help inform decision-making.

Regnology, a global leading provider at the intersection of regulatory, risk, finance and supervisory technology, today announced the evolution of Ascend, the next‑generation Regnology platform. This landmark release introduces a powerful agentic AI layer to the Regnology platform and formally integrates the Regnology Supervisory Hub (RSH) into the Ascend ecosystem. Launched in late 2025, Ascend is the catalyst of Regnology’s Straight-Through-Reporting (STR) vision. The initial rollout empowered financial institutions with RRH Ascend delivering intelligent data governance for proactive quality assurance, predictive insights to anticipate regulatory demands, powerful automation to execute complex workflows, and contextual collaboration for seamless human oversight. “Our position at the nexus of risk, regulation, and finance gives Regnology a unique vantage point to support the industry’s evolution,” said Rob Mackay, CEO of Regnology. “Our next‑gen Ascend platform is the engine of a paradigm shift transforming compliance into a single strategic command center where high‑quality data, continuous insight, and intelligent orchestration converge.” With the new AI-agentic orchestration layer, Ascend transforms regulatory reporting and financial oversight into adaptive, intelligent, and automated processes. Built on Regnology’s unified RGD data foundation, AI agents embedded within the Regnology platform will continuously manage workflows, analyze regulatory data and generate advanced and contextually accurate insights. Operating on a consistent, high‑quality data model, enables these agents to strengthen both institutional reporting and supervisory understanding. The Ascend platform now supercharges RSH across the entire oversight lifecycle. Workflow agents automate data collection, validation, and examinations, while real‑time analytics agents surface critical Key Risk Indicators (KRIs) and interpret everything from granular indicators to narrative reports. By consolidating these capabilities on a trusted unified platform that operationalizes STR, RSH Ascend enables a more autonomous supervisory operating model delivering faster oversight cycles, higher efficiency, and significantly stronger risk anticipation. “Ascend was designed as the foundation for a new era of regulatory reporting —bringing automation, transparency, and intelligence to the core of the financial operating model,” said Linda Middleditch, Chief Product Officer at Regnology. “By extending agentic AI to both regulators and the regulated on a trusted RGD data backbone, we empower the industry to move from reactive reporting to continuous intelligence for faster decisions and more resilient oversight.” Regnology will progressively onboard all its entire solution offering to the agentic-AI enabled Ascend platform, helping accelerate the industry’s transition toward full realization of the STR vision.

ACER and the European Commission are organising a webinar to present the revised REMIT data reporting framework, expected in April 2026. When? Thursday 23 April 2026, from 10:00 to 11:30 CEST, online. What is the event about? Europe has an EU-wide framework (called “REMIT”) to detect and deter market manipulation and abuse in wholesale energy markets. Following the 2024 revision of the REMIT Regulation, its secondary legislation will be updated in spring 2026 to make the framework fully operational. This includes a: Revised Implementing Regulation, which sets out detailed rules for reporting energy market data to ACER. New Delegated Regulation, which defines new authorisation and compliance processes for reporting parties. Why should you join? During the webinar, ACER and the European Commission will: present the new acts and their practical implications for energy market participants; provide insights on next steps for implementation, including guidance documents; and address stakeholders’ questions. Read more and register.

March 2026 Chicago Report™ The Chicago Business Barometer™, produced with MNI, tempered 4.9 points to 52.8 after three consecutive rises. Still, the Barometer has now spent three months in expansionary territory. The decline was driven by Employment, Production and New Orders. Lifts in Order Backlogs and Supplier Deliveries provided some offset. Employment weakened 12.8 points, now back in contractionary territory after one month above 50. However, the index remains considerably above levels seen at the end of 2025. Production lightened 9.3 points, driven by a decline in the number of respondents reporting higher production. The proportion of respondents reporting lower production fell slightly from last month. New Orders softened 7.8 points, more than unwinding February’s rise but still above 50 for the third consecutive month. Order Backlogs grew 6.4 points. The index is now at its highest since December 2022. Supplier Deliveries rose 4.9 to the highest level since December 2024. The proportion of respondents reporting lower supplier deliveries jumped to the most since October 2022. Prices Paid gained 3.4 points, now at the highest level since last December. Respondents noted that metals were already driving cost increases, and that geopolitical tensions have driven up other costs too. Inventories increased 5.4 points. The survey ran from March 1 to March 16.

CNBC expands its live market presence with daily broadcasts from Cboe's trading floor beginning April 6 Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE), a leading global markets operator and pioneer in equity derivatives, and CNBC, the recognized world leader in business news, today announced a multi-year collaboration that will bring daily CNBC programming to Cboe's historic Chicago trading floor. Beginning April 6, CNBC will expand its live market coverage, delivering real-time analysis of breaking news, market volatility, and options activity across its linear and digital platforms from the heart of the U.S. options market. The relationship comes as demand for U.S. options reached record levels, driven by growing desire for risk management tools from retail and institutional investors, and the growth of options-based ETFs. Total U.S. options trading volume in 2025 was 15.2 billion contracts, up 26% compared to 2024's record year, and included record activity in single stock, ETF and index options. "Chicago has long been a cornerstone of the global financial markets and home to many of the world's most sophisticated options traders, market makers, and clearing firms. As the pioneer and founding force behind the listed options industry, Cboe's trading floor remains the most vivid representation of this vibrant ecosystem," said Craig Donohue, Chief Executive Officer of Cboe Global Markets. "We are excited to work with CNBC, a trusted financial news leader, to showcase the energy and insights of the options market to a broader audience. As more investors turn to options to manage risk and opportunity, this collaboration with CNBC provides an important platform to deliver education, transparency and insight – directly from the world's most dynamic trading floor." Cboe's trading floor brings together a community of more than 300 brokers, market makers and trading-floor professionals representing firms from both Chicago and around the world. Through a hybrid model that integrates both open-outcry and electronic trading, the floor provides critical liquidity and price discovery for S&P 500® Index (SPX) options, Cboe Volatility Index® (VIX®) options, and other key index and multi-list options to investors globally. "As participation in options trading has increased, our audience has sought deeper, real-time insight into how these markets move," said David Cho, Editor-in-Chief of CNBC. "Expanding our live presence to Cboe's trading floor strengthens CNBC's ability to deliver on-the-ground reporting and expert analysis from the center of options activity. This collaboration reflects our broader strategy to invest in market coverage that provides the content and education investors need to navigate this increasingly important part of the investing landscape." The Cboe collaboration is the latest in a series of initiatives by CNBC to deepen its market coverage and expand its reach to new audiences across platforms. As part of the relationship, CNBC will utilize proprietary Cboe data to help inform its reporting on the options market. Coverage will be led by a dedicated options reporter and feature live market analysis and guest interviews. CNBC will also carry Cboe's opening and closing bell-ringing ceremonies and establish a broadcast studio on the trading floor scheduled to open later in the year. "Cboe's trading floor has always been a defining symbol of our 53-year legacy and brand. It remains one of the most recognizable images of who we are as a company, and we are excited to further showcase our heritage through this collaboration with CNBC," said Megan Goett, Chief Marketing Officer at Cboe Global Markets. "Concurrently, as retail interest in options trading continues to grow, investor education is increasingly central to our strategy. By pairing Cboe's deep market intelligence and insights with CNBC's broad audience reach, we can help educate more investors about the value and potential of options and the important role they play in today's markets."   

This monthly report provides key statistics relating to the various stages in discharging our regulatory oversight duties during the reporting period. The information for the reporting period covers, among others, the number of applications processed and their current status, the number of comment letters and guidance issued to new/ potential new listing applicants and their advisers with the corresponding processing time, the number of rejection and return of listing applications, as well as the number of delisted and suspended companies.  Overview of listed companies  Main Board GEM Total Number of listed companies 1. As at 1 January 2026 2,374 312 2,686 2. Newly listed companies  39 1 40 3. Delisted companies 15 4 19 4. As at 31 March 2026 2,398 309 2,707   Initial Public Offering Applications (As at 31 March 2026)   Main Board GEM Others (1)  Total A. Applications Processed (2026 Year-to-date)(2) (3) (4) 561 _____ 8 _____ 17 _____ 586 _____ 1. Applications brought forward from 31 December 2025 and renewal applications 371 6 1 378 2. New applications acknowledged in 2026 (5) 190 _____ 2 _____ 16 _____ 208 _____   Total 561 8 17 586 The application status of which as at 31 March 2026(2)   1. Listed (6)  39 1 16 56 2. Approved by the Listing Committee pending listing   17 0 1 18 3. Under processing  409 4 0 413 4. Others (i.e. lapsed (7), rejected (8) , returned (8) (9) or withdrawn)  96 _____  3 _____  0 _____ 99 _____  Total  561 8 17 586 Below are the respective processing time taken by the Exchange in respect of different types of submissions. In this table, the data covers the letters/ responses made by the Exchange within the relevant reporting month, and the processing time taken by the Exchange refers to business days taken between the acknowledgement date of the relevant application/ submission and the date of issue of the letter/ response by the Exchange. The Exchange treats all applicants fairly and equally in accordance with relevant Listing Rules, and the length of the processing time depends on various factors including quality and timeliness of the applicants' responses and time required for obtaining clearance by the applicant from other relevant authorities and regulators. The Exchange generally does not impose any deadline for response to its comment letters/ guidance. B. Processing Time Guidance Issued in March 2026 on Potential New Applications on Matters Relating to the Listing Rules 23 Median of business days taken by the Exchange for issuing written response 10 First Comment Letters Issued in March 2026 on New Applications 62 Median of business days taken by the Exchange for issuing first comment letter 13 Second Comment Letters Issued in March 2026 on Applications 10 Median of business days taken by the Exchange for issuing second comment letter 15 Hearing Bundle Letters Issued in March 2026 on Applications (10)(11) 16 Median of business days taken by the Exchange for issuing hearing bundle letter 11 Applications with Incomplete Response/ Major Concerns Letters/ Comment Letters on New Material Developments Issued in March 2026 (12) 8 Applications presented to the Listing Committee hearing for the 12 months ended 31 March 2026(13) 149 1. Median of total business days taken by the Exchange to issue comments from the listing application acknowledgement date to the date of hearing bundle letter (13) (14) 34 2. Median of total business days taken by parties other than the Exchange (e.g. sponsors) from the listing application acknowledgement date to the date of hearing bundle letter (14) 60 3. Median of total business days taken from the listing application acknowledgement date to the date of hearing bundle letter (14) 94 New Listings for the 12 months ended 31 March 2026 (15) 134 Median of total business days from the Listing Committee hearing to listing 19   (1) Including application by investment vehicle pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules. (2)  The number of applications processed also includes application by investment vehicle pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules, application for transfer of listing from GEM to the Main Board, application for listing of a successor company which satisfies the new listing requirements under Chapter 8 of Main Board Listing Rule as a result of an acquisition of, or a business combination with, a De-SPAC target by a SPAC, and deemed new applicant pursuant to Main Board Listing Rules 8.21C or 14.84/ GEM Listing Rule 19.84, and very substantial acquisition treated as reverse takeover pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/ GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6). Renewal applications refer to applications acknowledged within three months following a lapsed application by the same applicant. In this context, the Exchange considers such renewal application as a continuance of its original application. New applications include (i) applications filed with the Exchange for the first time; and (ii) applications filed after a returned, rejected or withdrawn application, or more than three months after a lapsed application by the same applicant. (3)  For the applications processed in a relevant reporting year, they include applications that were approved by the Listing Committee prior to, or during, the relevant reporting year. As at the date of this report, 30 Main Board applications and 0 GEM applications were approved by the Listing Committee during 2026. (4) The applications processed in 2026 include 564 applications under the Enhanced Application Timeframe (as defined in the Joint Statement on Enhanced Timeframe for New Listing Application Process issued by the Exchange and Securities and Futures Commission on 18 October 2024 (the Joint Statement)), of which there were 109 eligible A-share listed companies for Accelerated Timeframe (as defined in the Joint Statement). (5)  New Applications acknowledged in March 2026 include 26 Main Board applications, 0 GEM application, and 5 applications pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Main Board Listing Rules. (6)  Including 0 transfer of listings from GEM to the Main Board, 0 listings of a successor company which satisfies the new listing requirements under Main Board Chapter 8 as a result of an acquisition of, or a business combination with, a De-SPAC target by a SPAC, and 0 listing of a deemed new applicant pursuant to Main Board Listing Rules 8.21C or 14.84/ GEM Listing Rule 19.84, and very substantial acquisition treated as reverse takeover pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 14.06(6)/ GEM Listing Rule 19.06(6). (7)  An application shall lapse when six months have elapsed since the submission of an application form pursuant to Main Board Listing Rule 9.03/ GEM Listing Rule 12.07. (8)  There have been 0 rejection and 0 return of listing application for the year to date. If an application is rejected or returned, the same applicant may resubmit a new listing application once it has subsequently satisfied all applicable Listing Rules. (9)  Applications returned on the ground that the information in the listing application proof or related documents is not substantially complete. (10)  Subsequent to the issuance of the hearing bundle letter, when the applicants and their sponsors have a listing document that is ready for hearing, and having obtained all requisite approvals from other authorities or regulators, the application will proceed to the hearing.   (11) Including 3 hearing bundle letters issued for applications under the Accelerated Timeframe for eligible A-share listed company. (12) Including 8 incomplete response/ nil major concerns letters/ nil comment letters on new material developments were issued. Generally, the reasons for issuing the above letters are related to material legal/ regulatory development/ material complaint/ material changes in financial information/ pending update of financial information (including, for example, applications relying on early filing). (13)  The applications presented to the Listing Committee hearing for the 12 months ended 31 March 2026 include 128 applications under the Enhanced Application Timeframe since 18 October 2024 of which 32 applications were under the Accelerated Timeframe for eligible A-share listed company. Pursuant to the Joint Statement, the business days taken for each round of comments may be subject to slight adjustments, but overall it is expected that the time taken by the Exchange will be no more than 40 business days. (14)  For applications acknowledged prior to the adoption of the Enhanced Application Timeframe, the latest round of comment letter issued by the Exchange immediately prior to the hearing is treated as the hearing bundle letter for computation purpose. (15) Not including listings by investment vehicle(s) (including Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs)) and investment companies pursuant to Chapters 20 and 21 of the Main Board Listing Rules.   Delisting and Suspension Information (As at 31 March 2026)   Main Board GEM Total A. Number of delisted companies (since 1 January 2026) 1. Cancellation of listing pursuant to delisting procedures under the Listing Rules 8 3 11 2. Voluntary withdrawal of listing (16) 7 1 8             3. Transfer of listing from GEM to Main Board  N/A 0 0 4. De-SPAC transaction (17) 0 _____ N/A _____ 0 _____  Total 15 4 19 B. Number of companies in suspension for three months or more (as at 31 March 2026)        1. Delisting approval by the Listing Committee 5 1 6 (18)  2. Other suspended companies (19)   60 (20) _____ 13 (21) _____ 73 _____  Total 65 14 79     (16)  Either under (a) a compulsory acquisition under Main Board Rule 6.15(1) or GEM Rule 9.23(1) or (b) a privatisation by way of a scheme of arrangement or capital reorganisation under Main Board Rule 6.15(2) or GEM Rule 9.23(2). (17) An acquisition of, or a business combination with, a De-SPAC target by a SPAC that results in the listing of a successor company which satisfies the new listing requirements under Chapter 8 of Main Board Listing Rule. (18) 4 Main Board companies have applied to the Exchange to review the delisting decisions of the Listing Committee. The review procedures are in progress. (19) The Exchange may cancel the listing of companies if trading in their securities has remained suspended for 18 continuous months under Main Board Rule 6.01A or 12 continuous months under GEM Rule 9.14A.  Depending on the specific facts and circumstances of a suspended company, the Exchange may at any time publish a delisting notice stating its right to delist the company if it fails to resume trading within a shorter period specified in the notice. (20) Please refer to the Monthly Prolonged Suspension Status Report (Main Board) for the status of companies suspended for three months or more. (21) Please refer to the Monthly Prolonged Suspension Status Report (GEM) for the status of companies suspended for three months or more.

Trading Technologies International, Inc. (TT), a global capital markets technology platform services provider, announced today it will offer full support of European Energy Exchange (EEX) Gas Spot contracts, with the extensive range of TT trade execution tools and a first-of-its-kind auto-matching capability designed specifically for the contracts. Available now for testing and trade simulation, the TT connectivity for EEX Gas Spot offers new auto-matching capability with the same look and feel of trading on a listed derivatives exchange, while providing clients with a much-needed solution for automating their gas storage and trading operations, eliminating the need for manual order submission and trade aggregation. Alun Green, TT's EVP and Managing Director, Futures and Options, said: "TT has a more-than-30-year track record of building premier solutions for institutional traders. We've seen extraordinary demand for our platform among commercial and institutional energy and power traders, and we are now bringing these capabilities to the EEX Gas Spot market. We believe our EEX Gas Spot auto-matching feature, coupled with the ability to trade other gas spot and futures markets on a single platform, will be a true game-changer." Over the past two years, TT has significantly grown its footprint in the physical spot and over-the-counter (OTC) energy trading space through new partnerships and market connections, complementing its longstanding commitment to the listed energy derivatives space. The new EEX Gas Spot solution, designed with input from many of the largest energy traders, will enable market participants to leverage TT's sophisticated APIs and automated trading tools suite, including TT's execution algorithms and Autospreader®, to maximize trading efficiency.

Blackrock Retains Top Position In Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 Global Asset Manager Rankings, Significantly Increased Its Total Brand Score    The latest edition of Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 (FB50), an annual research study by global Fintech leader Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), was released today, highlighting the world’s best-performing third-party asset management brands. The study reveals a shifting brand landscape as asset managers jockey for position amid geopolitical tensions, market volatility, and intense fund selector scrutiny. Managers are enhancing their brand by offering clients access to high-growth markets such as private equity and private debt via strategic partnerships or through targeted acquisitions. Another critical trend that continues to shape the competitor environment, and the brand ranking, is investor appetite for passive and active ETFs. Innovative funds are highly prized in these dynamic growth areas. “JPMorgan AM no longer poses a significant threat to BlackRock as its total brand score has dropped 48 points after surging 755 points in 2024,” notes Barbara Wall, Broadridge’s EMEA Director of Data & Analytics. “BlackRock emerges top in four brand attributes including ‘Expert in what they do’ and ‘Solidity.’ The US leader is also the foremost recognised brand in eight out of the ten European markets covered. However, JPMorgan narrowly leads BlackRock in Germany, while Amundi moves into top position in France.”   The independent study, now in its 15th year, is powered by insights from Broadridge’s Global Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence - a comprehensive, continuously updated intelligence and analytics dataset capturing fund selector preferences, behaviours, and market trends across global markets. FB50 measures and ranks asset managers’ relative brand attractiveness based on fund selector perceptions: considering 10 brand attributes to reveal the top fund brands in Europe, APAC and the US. This is the latest study from Broadridge’s Data and Analytics business and highlights the depth and breadth of the firm’s global market insights.    Top-10 European Asset Management Brands   Rank   Fund Group   Change   1   BlackRock   0   2   JPMorgan AM   0   3   Fidelity   0   4   Amundi   +1   5   Pictet   -1   6   iShares   0   7   Vanguard   0   8   Schroders   +1   9   Robeco   -1   10   UBS   +1   Key insights   Amundi upsets the established order by replacing Pictet in fourth position (a post held by Pictet since 2021). It was also a productive year for Schroders and UBS – both move up a rung into eighth and tenth place, respectively. While Schroders’ top attribute is ‘Stability of investment management team’, the group is also valued for its extensive product range and expanding private markets offerings, including liquid alternatives. Home bias might have been a factor in the rise of UBS, with Swiss selectors remarking that their domestic clients are more at home with a provider which, like UBS, is a well-known local brand. UBS’s top attribute is ‘Local Knowledge.’   Fidelity remains in third place scoring highly for ‘Keeping best informed.’ Selectors also like this provider for its consistency, sheer professionalism and the great capacity that it has for fundamental analysis. Passive powerhouses iShares and Vanguard retain their top-10 slots in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Both groups are valued for their solidity and core passive fund ranges.   Social responsibility may not be top of mind for many providers in the current market climate, but it is noteworthy that some of the biggest asset management brands in Europe have lost institutional mandates due to a perceived reduction in their focus on ESG issues. At the retail level, fund selectors view promoters’ sustainability credentials as relevant, though increasingly less so amid mixed performance, closures and mergers, and regulatory uncertainty.     Active ETFs were a hot topic in 2025, and, while AUM remains low, flow momentum is building. Establishing a distinctive and authoritative message will be critical for building brand recognition in what is a highly concentrated space. As the sector matures, selectors are increasingly looking for high conviction active ETFs (many of which are thematic) distinguishable from the more widespread index enhanced strategies.    Valued attributes   While the top-five most important attributes in Europe are ostensibly unchanged from the previous year, with ‘Appealing investment strategy’ retaining top position, the precise ranking is rather more nuanced, with multiple attributes tying for second and fourth place. This serves to underscore the importance for asset managers of being seen to offer both fund selectors and investors alike the whole package.   Increasingly, asset managers are being asked to provide continuous, high-quality, and transparent market updates to navigate an investment landscape defined by geopolitical uncertainty, elevated valuations, and choppy markets. While size can enable a provider to leverage higher communication budgets to great effect, selectors want targeted communication that is easy to understand and in more engaging formats.   Additional findings from this year’s study include:   Traditional active equity managers continue to face an uphill struggle as ETF providers expand their market share. However, there are notable successes among independent managers with selectors valuing certain groups for their smaller size, longevity, low staff turnover and niche product sets.    It was a banner year for fixed income, and this was reflected in flows and brand perception. This is one area of traditional active management where bond providers were able to shine. Active flexible strategies and short-term fixed income exposure were popular with fund selectors.   One of the year’s most significant thematic trends in equity markets has been European defence. Two providers that have made significant gains in the top FB50 brand ranking – WisdomTree and VanEck – have made a notable impression here and in other popular thematic ETF strategies. Selectors want to see further product innovation in areas such as cryptocurrency and AI.   A webinar is scheduled for Tuesday, 14 April 2026 at 2:00pm BST | 9:00am EST | 9:00pm CST to reveal the top asset management brands in each region. Registration is available to all  https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/5270343/9C55A720DB344CF0E2D572C76AB46728   About the report   Broadridge Fund Brand 50 is an annual study derived from Broadridge’s Global Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence, which equips asset managers with critical analytics on their fund selector preferences, brand tracking, and quality scores. The analytics are driven by intensive interviews with more than 1,300 of the most significant fund selectors in Europe, APAC, and the US. Fund selectors name their top-three suppliers across 10 brand attributes.    These attributes for Europe are as follows:   Appealing investment strategy                         Client-oriented thinking                                     Expert in what they do                                       >Keeping best informed                                       Key international player                                     Solidity                                                                   Innovation/adaptation to market                   Stability of investment management team                   Local knowledge                                                  Social responsibility/sustainability           These answers, as well as commentary from other preference questions, are collated using statistical analysis and transformed into a ‘Total Brand Score’, on which groups are ranked.    Asset managers, consultants and other industry stakeholders interested in receiving more detail about  Fund Buyer Focus Intelligence can visit this website page. To inquire about Broadridge’s Fund Brand 50 report, please visit the Fund Brand 50 information page.     Broadridge helps asset managers streamline investment operations, comply with changing regulations, and drive revenue and profitability with advanced data, analytics, and global market intelligence. Broadridge’s fund solutions business serves nearly 500 asset managers, and tracks $110 trillion of assets under management, providing fund clients with an unparalleled global view into investor and asset trends.  

As financial markets become increasingly unstructured, a growing misalignment is emerging between the economics and technical challenges of connecting to markets and policy makers’ objectives for market growth and stability. In paper 1 of its three-part series “Markets Unstructured: The Importance of Connectivity in the Reinvention of Markets”, MSP explained how liquidity is dispersing and increasingly moving to multiple Request for Quote (RFQ) channels, pitching trading venues, sell-side intermediaries and automated market makers against each other as their value propositions merge. Paper II, released today, examines the challenges of the technical and commercial transformation required to underpin these changes and the implications for market access, competition, and execution outcomes. Key Findings: The buy-side does not own the technology upon which it relies to access markets.  88% of buy-side firms still rely on broker-sponsored Order and Execution Management Systems (OEMS) for broad access to markets and 47% are dependent on individual Fixed Income, Currency and Commodity (FICC) trading venues to provide direct, bespoke interfaces to each of their markets. As liquidity disperses, 71% of sell-side firms expect to have to connect to, and/or compete with more liquidity pools, increasing the spaghetti of pipes and connectivity costs that is already in existence.  Meanwhile, the buyside trading desks face a “swivel” curse of inefficiencies as they navigate between the OEMS solutions provided by brokers and the interfaces provided by individual trading venues that want to connect to them directly. 78% of sell-side say they are already offering a myriad of hybrid technical solutions to their clients across asset classes, which may be unsustainable and lead to commercial decisions about whether to continue paying for buy-side connectivity. 44% of both buy and sell-side firms are planning a connectivity overhaul and a further 33% are evaluating their options, but many struggle to prepare for strategic change or know how to unpick the current commercial and technical models, which, they say, are steeped in contractual vendor lock-ins, opaque pricing models and inertia to transform. Some sell-side are modernising, accelerating API investment: 67% plan to deploy cloud APIs.  However, as the motivation to sponsor connectivity reduces, access to such capabilities and efficiencies will become more uneven and the buy-side increasingly need to prepare to own their own technology and take up the reins of investment. Connectivity can no longer be treated as background plumbing. It now determines whether firms can actually reach liquidity, interact with prices, and participate competitively in the market.  Uneven access will contribute to further distortions in market structure. Connectivity-as-a-service and clean, standardised data for all participants are now the base requirements for the growth and stability of markets. If the buy-side is going to invest to modernise, it needs help to eradicate fragmented workflows across asset classes, remove opaque pricing and contractual vendor lock-ins, fix poor data quality, and break down legacy asset class silos.  Future growth and market stability depends on four pillars: Transparency – clear contractual arrangements and consistent pricing, particularly in fixed income where EMS costs remain opaque Standardisation – mandated, enforceable standards such as FIX, with consistent, flexible APIs (aligned where possible to FDC3-style cross-asset models) Interoperability – portable data, integrated pre- and post-trade tooling, seamless onboarding, and unified, real-time information across the trade lifecycle Cultural change – reduced vendor lock-in, dismantling silos, and shifting from entrenched partnerships to more flexible, open structures. Niki Beattie, CEO of MSP and one of the authors of the report comments “Too often people forget the importance of plumbing.  Without greater efficiencies in secondary markets, growth and innovation will stall. As markets become more unstructured, connectivity is no longer just the ability to send orders from a participant to one or two trading venues- it has become the nervous system of modern markets.  Getting the foundations right to ensure participants can send and receive accurate and validated data and interpret risk signals between all liquidity pools, across asset classes and up and down the processing chain is critical.  Policymakers and participants who underestimate its importance will find their markets and smaller businesses left behind, further reinforcing structural disparities./p> A copy of the Paper II report is attached.    

LSEG today announced a multi-year collaboration with Dell Technologies to optimise its existing on premises infrastructure and build a new private cloud platform. The new platform will strengthen resilience and performance across a number of LSEG’s Data & Analytics and Markets platforms that operate outside of LSEG’s existing public cloud environments. Dell will support LSEG in the design and build of a new secure, high-performance private cloud platform, integrating Dell servers, storage and automation software to create a unified infrastructure. The agreement forms part of LSEG’s multi-cloud strategy, complementing LSEG’s existing public cloud partnerships.  Irfan Hussain, Chief Information Officer, LSEG, said:“LSEG plays a crucial role powering the world’s financial markets through our trusted data and market infrastructure. Optimising our on-premises and public cloud estate is vital in ensuring we continue to serve our customers with best-in-class services. Working with Dell Technologies enhances the flexibility and resilience of our systems, enabling us to continue delivering high-performance services for the financial markets.” Doug Schmitt, Chief Information Officer and President of Dell Technologies Services, Dell Technologies, said:"The financial services sector demands infrastructure that maintains continuous availability while meeting strict security and regulatory requirements. Our integrated infrastructure and automation capabilities give LSEG the operational resilience and flexibility to run their most demanding workloads while maintaining full control of their environment.”

BNP Paribas’ THEAM Quant platform recently won various independent European fund awards for the performance of its flagship Guru equity strategies, highlighting the consistency and robustness of its rules‑based stock‑selection approach across European and US equity markets. The awards acknowledge the performance of the THEAM Quant - Equity Eurozone Guru and THEAM Quant - Equity US Guru strategies, which apply a disciplined, systematic framework designed to identify companies with strong fundamentals and attractive long‑term return profiles. LSEG Lipper Fund Award 2026 At the LSEG Lipper Fund Awards Europe 2026, THEAM Quant - Equity Eurozone Guru was named Best Equity Europe strategy over three years, recognising its consistently strong risk‑adjusted performance relative to peers, as measured by Lipper’s independent and quantitative methodology. Italian market awards The Guru range was also awarded by leading Italian financial publications; THEAM Quant - Equity Eurozone Guru was recognised at Bluerating’s Asset Class Awards, while THEAM Quant - Equity US Guru was awarded by Il Sole 24 Ore’s Premio Alto Rendimento for the third consecutive year, underlining the relevance and consistent performance of the strategy across regional markets. Belgian market recognition Additionally, THEAM Quant - Equity Eurozone Guru was awarded in its category by De Tijd, L’Echo media group. This prestigious fund award was presented during the Asset Management Tomorrow event that took place in Brussels earlier this month. Vincent Berard, Head of BNP Paribas Global Markets' Product Strategy for THEAM Quant funds, said: “The Guru strategies are built to deliver disciplined, repeatable equity exposure through a systematic stock‑selection process grounded in fundamental quality. This recognition reflects the strength of our systematic research and the robustness of the framework we apply consistently across regions.” Roberto Bartolomei, Head of BNP Paribas Global Markets' Sales for THEAM Quant funds, added: “We are pleased to see our Guru strategies recognised across multiple markets and by independent organisations. These awards highlight the relevance of our approach for clients seeking consistent equity exposure delivered through a transparent and rules‑based investment process.”

The FIX Trading Community, the industry association that manages the world’s trading language, the FIX Protocol, has called for changes to UK financial regulation as part of its responses to FCA consultations on the UK consolidated tape (CP25/31), and transaction reporting (CP25/32). Executive Director Jim Kaye said both consultations highlighted concerns with post-trade transparency that, if addressed, would improve UK market data and allow investors to more confidently engage with UK-based liquidity. “FIX has long been of the view that the UK could benefit from harmonising more closely with EU reporting rules, to reduce complexity and improve efficiency, and reduce the reporting burden,” he said. “These two consultations represent an excellent opportunity to move UK markets in this direction.” The UK consolidated tape for equities, which will be introduced in 2027, will deliver better access to UK market data. FIX made a number of recommendations around the framework of the tape, aiming to address regulatory gaps, improve clarity around compliance, and remove post-Brexit duplicative reporting. They include: Aligning the post trade transparency exemptions currently applicable to off-venue activity to apply to equivalent off-book on-exchange trades.  Remove the requirement to report, in the UK, trades that have already been reported by an EU APA. adding disclosure of trade execution methodology (manual versus automated) through FIX field ExecMethod(2405) for all off-venue trade reports.  Clarify via regulatory guidelines that when chains of orders are involved in a trade, the trade report should be performed by either the executing counterparty or its direct counterparty. Clarify via regulatory guidelines that when reporting an off-book cross-border transaction, the trade report should be performed by the first investment firm to receive the trade within the UK. To have a single consolidated tape provider to ensure a single source of truth. With regard to transaction reporting, the FCA consultation proposed changes to “reduce the regulatory burden on firms, support sustained economic growth in the UK, enhance our ability to fight financial crime and protect market integrity.” Mr Kaye noted that FIX’s recommendations focused on simplifying reporting, and included: Harmonising and aligning the rules with EU post-trade reporting rules. Clarifying single-sided and conditional single-side reporting with respect to data sharing, data repair responsibilities, and scenarios involving multiple intermediaries. Ensuring pragmatic approaches to data sourcing and identifiers – ie using Legal Entity Identifiers for trusts, and the FCA’s Financial Instrument Reference Data System (FIRDS) as a golden source – and addressing data quality issues with CFI codes. Removing RTS 22 fields while ensuring any data used for post-trade transparency is preserved. Ensuring unintended consequences of scope changes, such as removing instruments, fields or reporting oblications, do not complicate reporting logic or erode post-trade data quality. Recognising that some firms’ transaction reporting systems may not currently encompass proposed data points such as DEA indicators, and that upgrades will create additional work. The FIX Trading Community is an independent global community where capital markets firms come together to solve common issues and shape the evolution of capital markets. FIX groups in over 60 countries are working on a range of global issues including digital assets; reference data; carbon trading; AI; algo trading; FICC and ETFs, while country and regional committees work together to manage local regulation and market structure matters.    

ExeQution Analytics, the specialist trading analytics company, has launched a hallucination-resistant AI assistant for trading - Eolas. Eolas is an agentic tool designed specifically for trading, quant and IT teams in financial institutions to extract more value from their data and improve trading decisions. Critically, Eolas has been engineered to be hallucination-resistant, ensuring its responses are drawn from a firm’s market or proprietary data, with no margin of error to fabricate responses. CEO Cat Turley said Eolas represented a step-change in institutions’ ability to monetise data investments. “Eolas essentially removes all the bottlenecks firms grapple with around data,” she said. “It allows anyone involved in the trading function to speak directly to the data source, in natural language – and for the data to speak back.” Eolas can be used to power best execution by allowing traders to interrogate realtime and historical data without going to quant or IT teams to pull reports, meaning intraday opportunities can be captured on the fly and issues mitigated before they drag on performance. For sales teams, Eolas can prepare client reports and insights in minutes that today take hours or days, improving responsiveness and service levels. For Heads of Trading, Eolas provides both the helicopter view needed to manage the floor as well as the ability to dive deeply into issues the moment they arise. This ability for trading functions to use data without going to quants or IT relieves these teams of the burden of constant ad-hoc requests and regular reporting. This allows these valuable resources to focus on higher-value work, supported by the ability to interact with data far more quickly and easily themselves. Eolas also supports compliance and risk by allowing direct access to the data that surfaces risk or confirms adherence to rules and regulations. Eolas is prevented from hallucinating by converting natural language queries into API calls. This limits it to performing approved functions on approved data, and ensures auditable execution paths, but still at the speed users expect from experience with other agentic agents. The API integration allows existing entitlement systems to be used, ensuring data is secure and only visible to permissioned users. “The largest data set and most powerful analytics engine in the world is of limited use if only a few people can access it,” Ms Turley said. “Eolas is the next generation of trading intelligence, a true democratisation of data that can match the speed of insight to the speed of markets for the very first time.” ExeQution Analytics has also released a paper, The role and future of AI on the trading floor <link>, discussing the role of agentic AI in trading. Eolas architecture is based on the Model Context Protocol, Anthropic’s open-source integration protocol. It connects the client’s AI interface – typically via Claude, Gemini or CoPilot – to a KDB MCP server and then to ExeQution Analytic’s powerful analytics framework, built in q on KDB. The framework, and Eolas, are delivered as a bespoke service for each client. ExeQution Analytics was launched in Australia in 2021, and has grown to service a global client base including hedge funds, sovereign wealth funds, propriety trading firms, asset managers and brokers, across all exchange-traded asset classes, with FX being added this year.

The Financial Markets Authority – Te Mana Tātai Hokohoko (FMA) has granted a class exemption that provides an easier pathway to market for issuers to make offers of green, social, sustainability or sustainability-linked (GSSS) bonds. FMA Executive Director Governance, Policy and Strategy Liam Mason said, “There is increasing investor demand for products that offer environmental or social value alongside investment returns. This means there is an opportunity to grow and develop New Zealand’s sustainable finance market, and for New Zealand retail investors to participate in capital raising with green or socially responsible objectives. However, during consultation with industry we heard that current disclosure requirements may be discouraging issuers from making offers of bonds with GSSS features. “We are granting this class exemption to allow issuers to get to market quickly and cost-effectively, while still ensuring that investors are given information that they will find timely, accurate, and valuable in making investment decisions.” The exemption notice enables issuers to make offers of bonds that have identical features to existing quoted bonds, except for a different interest rate, redemption date and GSSS status, without the usual disclosure requirements that involve preparing a product disclosure statement. This aligns with the Financial Markets Conduct Act ‘same class’ exclusion, which provides relief from disclosure requirements for offers of quoted financial products when appropriate information is already publicly available about products of the same class. It recognises there is already sufficient information for investors to make confident and informed decisions, and that the quoted products are appropriately priced by the market by the time a same class offer is made. Since they offer an additional non-financial benefit, GSSS bonds are not the same class as regular (also known as ‘vanilla’) bonds with identical terms. “Granting this exemption removes unnecessary regulatory burden, which has been an ongoing focus for the FMA. We believe that by providing relief from the time and cost required to produce a product disclosure statement, more issuers will be incentivised to offer these types of products, which will increase opportunities for New Zealanders to invest in products that align with their values, while supporting growth in New Zealand’s GSSS bond market,” Mr Mason said. The exemption is subject to conditions, including that the issuer must make available to investors information about the GSSS status of the bond. “This condition will ensure investors are still able to make informed decisions. In fact, having a separate terms sheet that is shorter and simpler may make it easier to understand and assess the GSSS features of the product.” 

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) reported on the performance of first-lien mortgages in the federal banking system during the fourth quarter of 2025. The OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Fourth Quarter 2025 showed that 97.5 percent of mortgages included in the report were current and performing at the end of the quarter, a slight increase from 97.4 percent in 2024. The percentage of seriously delinquent mortgages – mortgages that are 60 or more days past due and all mortgages held by bankrupt borrowers whose payments are 30 or more days past due – remained unchanged from the fourth quarter of 2024. Servicers initiated 7,519 new foreclosures in the fourth quarter of 2025 showing a decrease from the previous quarter and an increase from a year earlier. Servicers completed 5,888 modifications during the fourth quarter of 2025, a 39 percent decrease from the previous quarter’s 8,190 modifications. The data in this report reflects a decline in mortgage modifications for the fourth quarter of 2025 attributed to changes in secondary market investor loss mitigation programs. Of these 5,888 modifications, 5,565, or 94.5 percent, were “combination modifications” — modifications that included multiple actions affecting the affordability and sustainability of the loan, such as an interest rate reduction and a term extension. The first-lien mortgages included in the OCC’s quarterly report comprise approximately 19.2 percent of all residential mortgage debt outstanding in the United States or approximately 10.3 million loans totaling $2.6 trillion in principal balances. This report provides information on mortgage performance through December 31, 2025. Related Link OCC Mortgage Metrics Report, Fourth Quarter 2025

CFTC's Weekly Swaps Report has been updated, and is now available: http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/SwapsReports/index.htm.Additional information on the Weekly Swaps Report. Archive Explanatory Notes Swaps Report Data Dictionary Release Schedule Released: Weekly on Mondays at 3:30 p.m.

The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) is seeking feedback on how to best build and shape a machine-readable dataset of securities rules and regulatory documents to facilitate improved access, clarity and usability for capital market participants. To support this work, the OSC has published an overview describing how this machine-readable dataset could transform access to securities regulation in Ontario and reduce burden. “The OSC is exploring how a machine‑readable regulatory framework could reduce compliance burden and translate rules into clear, consistent data that firms can build into their systems from the outset,” said Leslie Byberg, Executive Vice President, Strategic Regulation. “This could result in lower costs and faster compliance, allowing resources to be focused on serving investors and enhancing Ontario’s capital markets.” In 2025, the OSC collected preliminary stakeholder input on this initiative with the support of RegGenome, a regulatory data technology company. This early work explored the impacts and feasibility of using machine-assisted annotation by OSC experts to label and categorize segments of relevant statutes, regulations, rules and policies. These annotations would enhance searchability, highlight linkages across documents, and improve the ability of humans and computers to understand and analyze the regulatory framework with the potential to make compliance faster and more accurate. The overview published on our website sets out more of the potential impacts of machine-readable regulations for Ontario capital markets participants. The Commission is requesting further feedback on the next steps to best support investors, industry, and regulatory technology innovators with this dataset. The OSC’s 2026–2027 Statement of Priorities includes our commitment to develop a proof of concept for a machine-readable version of Ontario’s securities regulation, and stakeholder input will help guide the next stage of this important work. The OSC welcomes comments until June 30, 2026. The mandate of the OSC is to provide protection to investors from unfair, improper or fraudulent practices, to foster fair, efficient and competitive capital markets and confidence in the capital markets, to foster capital formation, and to contribute to the stability of the financial system and the reduction of systemic risk. Investors are urged to check the registration of any persons or company offering an investment opportunity and to review the OSC investor materials available at www.osc.ca.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the premier post-trade market infrastructure for the global financial services industry, today announced that four new Board Members have joined its Board of Directors. The Board plays a critical role in overseeing the strategic direction of DTCC, working closely with the firm's leadership and advising on topics including risk management, regulatory matters, the development of new products and services, emerging fintech and more. The new Directors are Roland Chai of Nasdaq, Massimiliano Ciardi of Citadel, Stephen Hood of Marex, and Georges Lauchard of Barclays. Roland Chai serves as the President of European Markets and Head of Digital Assets at Nasdaq. He is responsible for overseeing seven exchanges, a CCP, and a CSD group. Earlier, Chai served as Nasdaq’s first Global Chief Risk Officer, where he was responsible for developing, reviewing and maintaining Nasdaq’s global risk program. Massimiliano Ciardi serves as Global Treasurer of Citadel, where he oversees global liquidity, counterparty risk and capital management. Previously, Ciardi spent 17 years at Goldman Sachs, where he rose to Partner and Global Head of the Equities Funding Group in the Global Markets Division. Stephen Hood serves as Americas Head of Clearing at Marex. In this role, Hood is responsible for leading the firm’s futures and options clearing operations as well as supporting digital asset clearing and tokenized frameworks. Hood brings over 25 years of leadership across global FCM and broker-dealer markets. Georges Lauchard serves as Chief Operating Officer of Barclays Investment Bank. Lauchard leads global technology, operations, and controls across the division’s multi year transformation strategy. He has extensive experience, holding various leadership roles, including 20 years in senior global COO, Markets, Technology, and Controls at J.P. Morgan. “We are delighted to welcome Roland, Massimiliano, Stephen, and Georges to the Board of Directors,” said Kevin M. Kessinger, Non-Executive Chairman of DTCC’s Board. “Their collective experience and expertise across global markets, risk management and financial infrastructure will be invaluable as DTCC continues to advance market resilience and innovation to help lead the evolution of the global financial system.” The DTCC Board of Directors is currently composed of 21 Directors. Of these, 13 are participant Directors who represent clearing agency members, including international broker/dealers, custodian and clearing banks, and investment institutions; four are non-participant Directors; two Directors are designated by DTCC's preferred shareholders, ICE and FINRA; and the remaining two Board members are DTCC's Non-Executive Chairman and its President and Chief Executive Officer.