PLATFORMS: Flavours of platforms

There’s a lot of activity going on to centre investors’ and other market participants’ securities operations on platforms – but what are these? The simplest metaphor might be our phone app stores: different apps do anything but they interface with us and our data in consistent ways, and by a coordinated subscription setup (where the platform operator may seek to take a good cut).

Behind this rough picture, a more nuanced take will reveal a range of strategies. For a backgrounder, why not start with this late-2025 article, by session moderator and Treasury 360° news site editor Janet Du Chenne: “How the BlackRock-AccessFintech partnership could change the platform race”: