On the 26 February ISLA welcomed over 70 market participants to London for the first ISLA Connects Educational Briefing of 2026, in association with EquiLend, to join us on a journey of discovery and explore how technology has been changing our sector and how, with the right tools and mindset, we can capitalise on it.
EquiLend turned back the pages of time, highlighting how in only 20 years, technology providers have help shift the industry from early excel sheets and fax machines, to a new world of automation and scalability, with some platforms now supporting over 200,000 automated trades a day.
And then steered our panel featuring BNY, HSBC and BlackRock providing fresh insights from the trading floor of how data and tech are driving business opportunities.
Finally, looking to the future, a fireside discussion Ripple. After the crypto winter of 2022, they explained how an industry wide shift in focus to the operational efficiencies offered through DLT and Blockchain mean we could be on the cusp of atomic and zero-fail trading.
Our key take-aways from the evening:
◾Uniformity and standardisation in our vendor platforms creates both greater efficiency to the end user and allows knowledge to disseminate efficiently, removing the past risk of human bottlenecks.
◾As new technology helps us analyse data, and AI streamlines day-to-day manual tasks, it’s the ability to interpret the ‘message in the data’ that’s key.
◾Technology complements rather than replaces the human relationships underpinning our industry. By taking care of the miniature, tech allows us to see the forest for the trees.
◾There’s no shortcut to a deep understanding of our product. The more you understand, the greater you will be able to apply technology and find an edge.
◾De-Fi can be viewed in 4 worlds: Cryptocurrencies, Stable Coins, Tokenised Securities and Native Digital Securities. All are on a journey and its up to you to identify the best use cases for your business.
◾Small incremental gains rather than ‘big bangs’ are more likely to lead to greater implementation of new technologies.
Thank you to all of our speakers and panellists for helping to kick off our 2026 ISLA Connects programme and for sharing your insights on this defining part of our sector.
Thank you to the whole team at EquiLend for their support and to the Andaz for hosting us for the evening.
To find out more about ISLA Connects, including how you can sign up to our mailing list, click here.
