A conversation between Deepti Chavan, Head of Strategic Alliances at ViewTrade IFSC, and Rohit Khandelwal, Chief Technology Officer at ViewTrade
Global investing can appear simple from the investor’s perspective: select a market, place an order and receive a confirmation.
Behind that experience is a much more complex financial infrastructure connecting order management, execution, clearing, settlement, risk management, compliance, reporting, market data and multiple market participants.
As global markets evolve toward longer trading hours, more automated workflows and emerging models such as tokenized securities, financial institutions need infrastructure capable of supporting that complexity.
In this conversation, Deepti Chavan speaks with Rohit Khandelwal about how brokerage infrastructure is evolving and what financial institutions should consider when building or expanding global investing capabilities.
Key Takeaways
- Trading infrastructure is about more than execution speed. Reliability across the full trade lifecycle is increasingly important.
- Moving toward 24/7 markets means post-trade, reconciliation, compliance and operational processes also need to evolve.
- API-first architecture can allow financial institutions to select the brokerage and technology components appropriate for their business model.
- Cloud-native infrastructure can help support financial institutions and investors operating across multiple geographies.
- Financial institutions need to consider resilience and cybersecurity across their broader ecosystem, not only within their own technology environment.
- As markets evolve, institutions may increasingly evaluate which capabilities they should build internally and which can be supported by specialised infrastructure providers.
Why Global Investing Infrastructure is More Than Trade Execution
For many years, the performance of trading technology was often associated primarily with execution speed.
That is no longer the complete picture.
A securities transaction can involve multiple stages before and after an order reaches the market, including:
- Pre-trade checks
- Order routing and execution
- Clearing
- Settlement
- Risk management
- Compliance
- Regulatory reporting
- Tax reporting
- Corporate actions
- Reconciliation
These processes may also involve multiple firms and technology systems.
The challenge for modern financial infrastructure is therefore not simply making one stage faster. It is helping the different components of the trade lifecycle operate consistently and reliably together.
As Rohit explains in the conversation, the objective is increasingly a holistic workflow across pre-trade, execution and post-trade processes rather than focusing exclusively on execution speed.
How Does 24/7 Trading Change Brokerage Infrastructure?
Extended-hours and potentially 24/7 markets introduce a different operational challenge for financial institutions.
Historically, many brokerage processes have relied on overnight or end-of-day workflows. These periods can provide time for reconciliation, reporting, exception management and other operational activities.
In a more continuous market environment, those processes may also need to become more continuous.
This affects areas including:
- Trade reconciliation
- Post-trade processing
- Risk controls
- Compliance monitoring
- Exception management
- Reporting
- Operational support
The move toward longer trading hours is therefore not simply an execution challenge.
It is also an operational and infrastructure challenge.
Financial institutions preparing for a more continuous trading environment should consider whether both their technology and operational workflows can support processes that historically occurred in scheduled batches.
What Role Do Brokerage APIs Play in Global Investing?
API-first architecture is becoming increasingly important as more types of financial institutions consider offering investing capabilities.
A bank, fintech, wealth manager, digital wallet or other financial institution may want to provide access to investment products without building every component of brokerage infrastructure internally.
This is where brokerage APIs and trading APIs can play a role.
An API-based infrastructure model can allow institutions to integrate different capabilities depending on their requirements, including areas such as:
- Account and investment workflows
- Trading
- Market data
- Risk management
- Post-trade processing
- Reporting
- Brokerage infrastructure
- Front-end technology
Rather than requiring every institution to adopt the same technology stack, a modular approach can provide greater flexibility in determining which components are integrated into an existing customer experience.
At ViewTrade, this approach is designed around providing technology and brokerage capabilities that financial institutions can integrate based on their business, jurisdiction and operating model.
Why Financial Institutions Are Considering Modular Brokerage Infrastructure
The range of companies offering investment services continues to expand.
Investing capabilities are increasingly being considered by organisations whose primary business may historically have been banking, payments, wealth management or other financial services.
For these firms, the strategic question becomes:
Which parts of the investing experience should we build ourselves, and which parts should we access through specialised infrastructure?
Building a brokerage operation can involve far more than developing an investing interface.
Institutions also need to consider areas such as execution connectivity, clearing, settlement, regulatory requirements, risk controls, reporting and ongoing operational support.
A modular infrastructure model can enable a financial institution to retain control over areas where it wants to differentiate—such as its customer experience—while connecting to external infrastructure for other capabilities.
How Does Cloud-Native Architecture Support Cross-Border Investing?
Global investing involves connecting financial institutions, investors and markets that may be located in different parts of the world.
Cloud infrastructure can help technology providers distribute services across different geographic regions and support users closer to where they operate.
For financial institutions, this can be relevant when providing access to markets outside their home jurisdiction.
A cloud-native architecture may support:
- Geographic distribution
- System scalability
- Service availability
- Modular deployment
- Integration with API-based services
- Support for clients operating across multiple regions
The objective is not simply to place existing technology in the cloud.
Cloud-native financial infrastructure can be designed around services that operate independently while remaining connected across a broader investment workflow.
What Changes as Financial Markets Become More Real Time?
A shift toward real-time financial markets has implications beyond the trading venue itself.
Processes that historically took place at specific points during the day may increasingly need to operate continuously or closer to real time.
For example, institutions may need to reconsider how they approach:
- Reconciliation
- Trade matching
- Exception management
- Compliance controls
- Settlement processes
- Operational monitoring
Automation becomes particularly important in this environment.
If a process previously depended on manual investigation or intervention, it may become increasingly difficult to maintain that approach as trading and other market processes operate for longer periods.
This does not mean every financial-market process will immediately become instantaneous. Rather, financial institutions need to assess which workflows should evolve as market structures change.
What Does Tokenization Mean for Financial Infrastructure?
Tokenized securities are another development influencing discussions around the future of financial-market infrastructure.
If more assets eventually trade in environments that operate continuously, infrastructure surrounding those transactions may also need to adapt.
The transition is unlikely to happen simultaneously across every market.
Financial institutions may therefore need infrastructure capable of operating across a mixed environment that includes:
- Traditional securities
- Existing market infrastructure
- Longer trading sessions
- Real-time processes
- Emerging tokenized assets
Supporting this transition requires flexibility.
Market participants may need to connect new infrastructure models with existing financial systems rather than replacing everything at once.
Why Cybersecurity and Operational Resilience Need an Ecosystem Approach
Modern financial infrastructure is increasingly interconnected.
A financial institution may depend on trading venues, clearing organisations, custodians, payment providers, technology providers and other third parties to deliver an investing service.
That means resilience cannot be considered solely within the boundaries of one organisation.
Cybersecurity and operational resilience increasingly need to account for the broader ecosystem supporting a transaction.
Financial institutions evaluating brokerage technology should therefore consider areas such as:
- Security controls
- Operational resilience
- Third-party dependencies
- Redundancy
- Exception handling
- Business continuity
- Real-time monitoring
A strong internal system can still be affected if another component in the broader workflow experiences an issue.
What Will Differentiate Brokerage Platforms in the Future?
As technology makes it easier to develop digital interfaces, the customer-facing application alone may become less of a differentiator.
The infrastructure operating behind that interface remains critical.
Financial institutions should consider whether their technology can consistently support the complete investment lifecycle, including:
execution → clearing → settlement → risk → compliance → reporting → ongoing servicing
Reliability, data integrity, operational resilience and interoperability may therefore become increasingly important when firms evaluate their brokerage infrastructure.
Build In-House or Work with a Brokerage Infrastructure Provider?
There is no single model that is appropriate for every financial institution.
Some institutions may choose to build significant parts of their technology internally. Others may integrate specialised providers for selected parts of the investment lifecycle.
The decision can depend on factors including:
- Existing technology infrastructure
- Regulatory requirements
- Geographic markets
- Customer segments
- Asset classes
- Internal engineering resources
- Time to market
- Operational requirements
- Desired level of customisation
A modular approach can provide another option: institutions can retain selected capabilities internally while integrating external brokerage or technology infrastructure where appropriate.
How ViewTrade Supports Global Investing Infrastructure
ViewTrade provides B2B technology and brokerage infrastructure for financial institutions seeking to provide access to investment markets.
Its infrastructure is designed to support different operating models through technology, APIs and brokerage capabilities.
Depending on the institution and jurisdiction, this can include components supporting areas such as:
- Global market access
- Trading and brokerage APIs
- Brokerage infrastructure
- Front-end investment technology
- Risk management
- Post-trade workflows
- Reporting
- Investment-platform technology
The objective is to give institutions flexibility in how they assemble the technology and infrastructure supporting their investing proposition.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is global investing infrastructure?
Global investing infrastructure refers to the technology, brokerage and operational systems that enable investors or financial institutions to access investment markets outside their domestic market.
It can include order management, execution, clearing, settlement, market data, custody, compliance, reporting, risk management and other supporting processes.
What is a brokerage API?
A brokerage API allows a financial institution or fintech to connect its applications to brokerage-related capabilities programmatically.
Depending on the provider and implementation, APIs may support functions such as account workflows, trading, portfolio information, market data, reporting and other investment processes.
What is a global investing API?
A global investing API is an API infrastructure designed to help financial institutions connect their platforms to investment capabilities across one or more international markets.
The exact services available depend on the provider, market, jurisdiction and regulatory requirements.
Why are APIs important for brokerage platforms?
APIs can allow institutions to integrate individual brokerage or investment capabilities into their existing technology rather than relying on a single fixed application.
This can help organisations create investment experiences aligned with their own business and customer requirements.
What is API-first brokerage infrastructure?
API-first brokerage infrastructure is designed so that brokerage and investment capabilities can be accessed and integrated through APIs.
It can support modular architecture in which institutions choose specific technology or brokerage components based on their requirements.
How does cloud technology support global investing?
Cloud infrastructure can allow financial technology services to operate across multiple regions and scale according to demand.
For cross-border investing, distributed cloud architecture may also help providers support institutions and users located in different geographic markets.
What infrastructure is required for 24/7 trading?
Longer or continuous trading sessions can require more than extended execution capabilities.
Supporting infrastructure may also need to address continuous or near-real-time risk controls, monitoring, reconciliation, post-trade processing, compliance, reporting and operational support.
How could tokenization affect brokerage infrastructure?
Tokenization may introduce new ways of representing and transferring financial assets.
If tokenized markets operate alongside traditional securities markets, financial institutions may need infrastructure capable of supporting both established and emerging market models.
What should financial institutions consider when choosing brokerage technology?
Institutions should evaluate their requirements across the complete investment lifecycle, including integration, market access, execution, clearing, settlement, risk management, compliance, reporting, operational resilience, security and scalability.
The appropriate architecture will depend on the institution’s business model, customers, markets and regulatory requirements.
Explore Trading & Brokerage APIs: https://www.viewtrade.com/trading-brokerage-apis/
Disclaimer: This content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal, tax or regulatory advice. Products and services may be subject to jurisdictional, regulatory and eligibility requirements.
