Key Takeaways
- DTCC is expanding its strategic cloud partnerships with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft to modernize core clearing, settlement, risk and digital assets platforms.
- Moving defined workloads to the public cloud strengthens platform resiliency, security and scalability while preserving the disciplined controls required of a systemically important market infrastructure.
- Cloud First approach also accelerates innovation in digital assets, enabling DTCC to deliver institutional‑grade platforms that can scale securely as new asset classes and market models emerge.
DTCC recently announced the expansion of its use of cloud technology through strategic partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft, with a clear focus on strengthening resiliency, security and scalability across both core market infrastructure and digital assets platforms.
This milestone includes plans to migrate a defined set of DTCC’s core clearing, settlement and risk applications into a public cloud environment for the first time, following the ‘No Objection’ response from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2025. We have also extended our partnership with Microsoft to leverage its Azure cloud platform for our DTCC Digital Assets (DDA) solutions, such as ComposerX and Digital Launchpad, as we continue to support a growing demand for institutional-grade digital assets platforms.
To go a level deeper, DTCC Connection sat down with Lynn Bishop, DTCC Managing Director and Chief Information Officer, to talk about why cloud is so central to DTCC’s modernization journey, how this work strengthens our platform resilience and trust, and how DTCC is evolving its technology in a careful, disciplined way that continues to meet the high expectations of our clients, regulators and the broader industry.
DC: In the 2025 Annual Report, our CEO, Frank La Salla, described the Cloud First strategy as a game-changer for DTCC and the markets we serve. Why is this announcement so important?
LB: This announcement represents a fundamental shift in how we build, operate and evolve the infrastructure that underpins global financial markets. Moving critical workloads to the public cloud allows us to modernize our core systems in ways that weren’t possible previously. It strengthens our platform’s resiliency and security and gives us greater agility, all while maintaining the rigorous standards required of a systemically important market infrastructure. Additionally, it positions DTCC to innovate faster and support new asset classes and market models as they emerge.
DC: How are we partnering with AWS and Microsoft? How will each support our cloud strategy?
LB: AWS will provide the public cloud infrastructure for a defined set of core clearing, settlement and risk applications that support NSCC, FICC and DTC. Meanwhile, DDA will use Microsoft Azure to accelerate innovation and delivery while also enhancing the security and observability of our services for the digital financial markets. DDA services, such as ComposerX (including the Capital Markets Platform and Factory solutions) and Digital Launchpad, are either already deployed to Azure cloud, or will be by the end of 2026.
DC: How will expanding our use of the cloud benefit our clients?
LB: Clients will see the benefits in several ways. First, they’ll gain a more resilient and secure infrastructure supporting DTCC’s core clearing, settlement and risk applications. Second, moving into the public cloud enables us to deliver enhancements and new capabilities more quickly, improving speed to market and our responsiveness to client needs. And third, as we expand the capabilities of our digital asset platforms, clients will have access to scalable, enterprise-grade solutions designed specifically for institutional use, with the governance, controls and reliability clients and others expect us to provide.
DC: How does cloud strengthen resiliency for such critical market infrastructure?
LB: Resiliency is always the starting point for us. Cloud allows us to build redundancy more natively, isolate issues more effectively and recover faster. That means we can better withstand disruptions whether they’re driven by market volatility, technology issues or cyber threats.
To be clear, leveraging the cloud doesn’t replace existing controls. It enhances them. We are combining cloud capabilities with the rigorous processes and safeguards DTCC has built over decades to keep markets running smoothly, even in times of disruption.
DC: Why is cloud so important to DTCC’s work in digital assets?
LB: Digital asset markets are evolving quickly, and the technology that supports them must be flexible, scalable and secure from day one. Adopting a ‘Cloud First’ platform strategy gives us that foundation.
By building DDA services on Microsoft Azure, we can deliver platforms that scale as adoption grows, support new use cases more easily and maintain the level of security and governance that institutional participants expect.
DC: What should the industry expect next from DTCC?
LB: This is a multi-year journey, and we are going to migrate services to the cloud in a phased and disciplined way. You will see us migrating more workloads to either the AWS or Microsoft Azure cloud. This will strengthen the resilience of our platform as we accelerate the use of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI).
Throughout it all, our focus remains the same: protecting the safety and soundness of global financial markets while helping the industry evolve. That balance lies at the heart of everything we do.