Each year brings change, but the pace of change seems to be speeding up for exchange groups. What have been the key drivers over the last year and what will they be for the next 18 months? What is likely to influence the the market infrastructure of the future? What are the key factors that will be shape our industry over the coming years?

It’s the hottest topic of the year. Why is 24/7 trading back in fashion? Will it succeed this time after many dawns? Continuous or near-continuous trading already exists in some markets, but should this be reflected across more asset classes? As we explore the implications of 24/7 clearing, trading, and settlement, what does an “always on” markets mean for operational resilience and market efficiency?

Exchanges have seen a decline in listings while private markets grow. How can exchanges attract large companies to market? What is the interplay today between public and private markets? Has the dynamic changed? How should the two work together to complement each other while supporting healthy, informed and efficient capital markets. What are the key trends being observed in private and public markets? What is driving those trends? What impacts and risks do they pose for capital markets and economies more broadly? What are the respective roles of private and public markets in a healthy capital markets ecosystem? Should disclosure change in either market? How should regulation and policy evolve to ensure that public and private markets each play their respective roles effectively?

We look back the history of organised exchanges, tracing our industry’s origins in ceramic, spice, and bullion trading and exploring what this heritage tells us about the enduring social and economic role of exchanges as marketplaces, information hubs, and trust mechanisms.

What is the role of the securities market regulator in the development of markets? While there has been a traditional focus on supervision, enforcement and monitoring resilience, some, though not all, regulators are recognising their fundamental role in helping the markets they supervise, develop and evolve. How can, and should, regulators enable market evolution without compromising their core mandate? How should regulators consider the rise of “Finfluencers”? Should regulators be neutral referees, or active participants steering innovation? How can regulators balance fostering competition with maintaining systemic stability? At what point does regulatory caution become a brake on progress, and when does permissiveness turn into regulatory capture?

As India and North America settle into T+1 and Europe and the UK prepare for a 2027 shift, the conversation turns to global synchronisation, cross-border frictions, and operational readiness. What are the consequences of an asynchronous global landscape? What is the readiness of Asian markets? What is the readiness of emerging & frontier markets? What is the evolving role of CCPs and CSDs? Is T+0 or atomic settlement a logical next step. Does a patchwork of settlement cycles increase operational risk? What role should FMIs play in fostering convergence? And as per the WFE’s recent white paper, what factors should different jurisdictions decide whether to move their settlement cycles?

“Gold is a treasure, and he who possesses it does all he wishes to in this world” - Christopher Columbus 

Gold has become fashionable again and continues to play a pivotal role in global financial markets as a hedge, a reserve asset, and increasingly, as a digital or securitised product. What is driving the return of gold? How is the market structure evolving to meet the demands of this decade? What trends in investor demand are driving interest in this asset class? How are exchanges innovating to meet this investor demand?

Tokenised securities are being pitched as the next frontier of capital markets, but serious questions remain on those issued on non-exchange platforms. Who actually owns the underlying asset when a token is issued without company authorisation? Are these structures offering regulatory arbitrage under the guise of innovation? How can AML and investor protection obligations be meaningfully upheld when tokens are continuously traded across global platforms? And is this really about democratising access, or just repackaging private equity for retail consumption?

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how exchanges, CCPs, and regulators monitor markets, manage risk, and serve participants. But alongside this, there is other innovation in traditional market structure, technology, and new markets. How are markets changing today and what are the implications of that change for trust, transparency, and systemic risk? As FMIs deploy AI tools, what are the risks they are mitigating or introducing, and how is the regulatory frameworks evolving to govern them? Is there a tension between the ideal of market efficiency and the unpredictable nature of the real world? How can exchanges balance the need for stability with the principle of open, continuous markets? And what tools should they employ to maintain order without undermining trust?