Citi's latest whitepaper highlights a major transformation in the global post-trade industry, driven by digital assets, accelerated settlements, and AI adoption, with a focus on enhancing efficiency, resilience, and innovation.

Industry leaders emphasize that the convergence of digital assets and AI is revolutionizing asset servicing, shareholder participation, and governance, with Citi actively developing solutions to support these emerging trends.

Chris Cox, Head of Investor Services at Citi, underscores the industry's shift towards faster settlements and automation, with the bank enabling clients to leverage digital and data solutions for a competitive edge.

In 2025, a significant 76% of market participants are actively working on T+1 settlement initiatives, aiming to accelerate trade processing timelines, especially in North America and Europe where automation is critical.

The workload related to T+1 settlements has reached a historic high in 2025, reflecting the industry’s focus on process optimization and automation to meet the demands of next-day settlement cycles.

A survey involving 537 industry leaders across various sectors, including financial market infrastructures and asset managers, provides insights into the ongoing transformation in post-trade processes.

A remarkable 86% of firms are piloting Generative AI, primarily for client onboarding, with over half applying AI to post-trade operations like reconciliation, reporting, and settlements, led by buy-side firms.

Asia Pacific is at the forefront of digital asset adoption, driven by extensive retail cryptocurrency use and proactive regulatory efforts to support digital asset projects.

Automation is deemed essential for T+1 readiness, especially in the UK and Europe, where efforts include process improvements, harmonizing standards, upgrading legacy systems, and extending operating hours.

The industry is actively transitioning to T+1 settlement cycles, with automation and digital assets playing critical roles in facilitating this shift.

By 2030, approximately 10% of market turnover is projected to involve digital assets and tokenized securities, with bank-issued stablecoins enhancing collateral efficiency and supporting private market securities, especially in Asia-Pacific.