January 5, 2026
The Invisible Dependencies We Could Not Ignore in 2025: Why Custody, TA, Fund Administration and Brokerage Must Enter 2026 More Connected Than Ever
If there is one lesson the past two years have taught us, it is this:
Post-trade resilience is no longer defined by how well individual functions operate, but by how well they operate together.
Custody, transfer agency, fund administration and brokerage have long been managed as separate domains. Each with its own teams, systems and priorities. Each with its own pace of change. But 2024 and 2025 shifted the ground beneath us. What began with the move to T+1 accelerated through rising transaction volumes, stricter regulatory expectations, expanding private markets and early real-world tokenized products.
These pressures did not just expose bottlenecks within individual functions. They exposed the interdependencies between them. And they showed us that the gaps we once managed quietly in the background now sit at the forefront of operational performance.
Entering 2026, this is no longer a technical problem. It is a strategic one.
T+1 Was the Catalyst, but 2025 Proved the Complexity Runs Deeper
When T+1 went live in 2024, many expected settlement teams to bear the brunt of the change. Instead, 2025 made it clear that the ripple effects extended far beyond settlement. Without the buffer time that T+2 offered, every upstream and downstream dependency became more visible.
- Front-office cut-offs created tighter windows for TA and custody
- Investor instructions and trade flows overlapped with compressed settlement cycles
- Reconciliation teams had less time to absorb mismatches
- Corporate action events clashed with accelerated timelines
- Minor sequencing issues resulted in immediate downstream exceptions
The year revealed something fundamental. The system did not struggle because one function was slow. It struggled because the functions were not aligned.
This misalignment is no longer a footnote in operational discussions. It has become the primary source of risk.
Where Breaks Really Happened: Corporate Actions as a Case Study
Few workflows illustrate interdependence more clearly than corporate actions. In 2025, these events became a practical reminder of how one small discrepancy can ripple across the entire chain.
A simple example repeated across the industry this year:
A registry updated its shareholder positions a few hours after a custodian had already allocated entitlements to brokers based on earlier data. The TA system refreshed later in the day, and the fund administrator picked up the updated records for valuation.
Every team did its job correctly.
Yet the investor still experienced a delay.
What went wrong?
Not the teams. Not the logic.
The sequence.
Corporate actions require perfectly synced data across registry, TA, custody, fund administration and brokerage. When even one dataset lags, two “correct” versions of truth appear simultaneously. This is where breaks come from. This is where client experience is most visibly impacted.
In 2025, this pattern repeated enough times to make one point unmistakable:
we cannot continue to rely on fragmented ownership truth across domains.
Data Fragmentation: The Foundational Issue Behind Most Exceptions
Every insight from 2025 traces back to one core challenge.
Each function still operates using its own version of the data.
Custody maintains one golden source.
TA maintains another.
Fund administrators maintain a third.
Brokers maintain a fourth.
In a batch-driven world, this was manageable.
In an increasingly real-time ecosystem, it is a structural vulnerability.
Fragmentation caused:
- Exceptions that existed purely because two systems updated at different times
- Automation initiatives that stalled due to inconsistent upstream data
- AI pilots that struggled to perform without harmonised golden sources
- Reconciliations that grew in volume despite improved processes
We modernised tools, but the data foundation underneath those tools remains uneven.
Moving into 2026, this cannot continue.
The Timeline Collision: Four Functions, Four Speeds
Another uncomfortable truth surfaced this year. Each domain operates on a different clock.
- Brokerage runs on market timelines
- Custody runs on settlement cycles
- TA runs on investor and fund cycles
- Fund administration runs on valuation cycles
Individually, these rhythms make sense.
Collectively, they clash.
The exceptions of 2025 were rarely the result of weak processes.
They were the result of processes that were never designed to work in harmony.
Breaking silos is no longer about culture alone. It is about operational survival.
What 2026 Needs: Synchronisation, Not Acceleration
The next phase of post-trade evolution will not be defined by who automates first or adopts AI fastest. It will be defined by who redesigns the ecosystem so that all functions can operate with shared clarity and shared truth.
The priorities for 2026 are clear:
1. A unified data foundation
One authoritative source of positions, entitlements and event data across the chain.
2. Event-driven, real-time communication
Systems notifying each other as soon as changes occur, not hours later.
3. True cross-domain visibility
Custody understanding TA dependencies, TA understanding brokerage constraints and fund administration seeing downstream impact instantly.
4. Operating models built around flow rather than function
Efficiency comes from how data moves, not how teams are structured.
5. Preparedness for tokenized products
Tokenization will demand synchronisation across stakeholders that legacy operating models cannot support.
The Cost of Inaction
Institutions that do not address these dependencies will face:
- Higher exception volumes despite automation
- Increasing client dissatisfaction from inconsistent servicing outcomes
- Greater regulatory scrutiny as settlement buffers disappear
- Escalating operational cost to maintain manual controls
In contrast, those that invest in synchronisation will gain:
- Predictable settlement outcomes
- Cleaner automation and AI adoption
- Stronger client confidence
- A scalable foundation for future asset classes
2025 made one thing unambiguous:
Operational excellence is no longer defined by how well individual functions perform, but by how well the enterprise orchestrates them.
Custody, transfer agency, fund administration and brokerage are no longer adjacent capabilities. They are interdependent components of a single post-trade operating system.
Entering 2026, leadership advantage will belong to those who make that operating system visible, synchronised and accountable — before market pressure makes the decision unavoidable.
Author:
Sheetal Pandit
Vice President | Head of Customer Success Wealth and Capital Markets
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