Key Takeaways
- Resilience must be built in. Not treated as a backup plan.
- Faster, always-on markets leave less time to respond when disruptions happen.
- Preparation and industry collaboration are essential to manage emerging risks.
At SIFMA Ops 2026, I had the opportunity to join an industry panel on Resilience by Design – Preparing for What’s Next. The conversation made one thing clear: resilience has taken on a whole new meaning.
The way our markets operate is changing fast. Settlement cycles are shorter. Trading hours are expanding. Technology dependencies are growing. And the margin for error keeps shrinking. That means resilience can’t just be a backup plan. It has to be built into how we operate every day.
Start with a Simple Question: What Could Go Wrong?
One of the most important shifts we have seen is a change in mindset. A few years ago, many firms didn’t want to dwell on worst-case scenarios. The thinking was that it probably wouldn’t happen. Today, that’s changed. Now, we are asking tougher questions about what could go wrong, how serious it could be and what we would actually do if it happens.
We started doing this kind of work ahead of the move to T+1 in North America, bringing the industry together to walk through different scenarios, including operational issues and large-scale outages. The transition itself went well, but there were still a few bumps along the way, and those moments were valuable. They helped us see what works and, just as important, what doesn’t.
Less Time Means Less Room for Error
The move to T+1 didn’t just speed things up. It removed time from the system. Today, there is less time to detect a problem, respond to it and recover. That trend isn’t stopping. As markets move toward longer trading hours, including overnight activity, we will be operating in a more continuous environment.
Resilience can’t just be a backup plan. It has to be built into how we operate every day.
That raises new questions. What happens if something breaks overnight? How do you respond when there’s no natural pause in the day to reset? How do you manage risk in real time? We are already working through these issues with clients and industry groups, running exercises and building playbooks so we are not figuring it out in the moment.
Resilience Has to Be Built In, Not Bolted On
One of the biggest changes we are seeing is that resilience is no longer owned by a single team. It can’t sit only with business continuity or technology. It must be a shared business priority. That means people across the organization, from the front office to operations to technology, need to think about resilience as part of how they design and run what they do.
At DTCC, we are taking that approach as we modernize our systems. Every time we upgrade or rethink a process, we ask “how to make it stronger?” We look at how to reduce points of failure, how to recover faster and how to make the overall system more dependable from day one.
You Have to Practice for the Real Thing
Plans are important, but they only go so far. You have to test them in real-world scenarios. That’s why the industry came together to develop the T+1 resiliency playbook. More importantly, we’ve been running exercises that bring those plans to life simulating real disruptions and working through how we would respond.
The takeaway is simple. You don’t figure this out during a crisis. You figure it out ahead of time by practicing. This work isn’t finished. Firm’s playbooks will continue to evolve and so will the testing that supports it.
It (resilience) can’t sit only with business continuity or technology. It must be a shared business priority.
The Industry Has to Work as One
Resilience isn’t something any one firm can solve on its own. Our industry is highly connected. When one part of the system is impacted, it can quickly affect others. That’s why collaboration across the industry is so important.
When we brought firms together to work through scenarios and build the playbook, the biggest benefit wasn’t just the output, it was the shared understanding. It helped everyone see how the system fits together and what each part depends on. It also builds relationships. When something goes wrong, you don’t want to be figuring out who to call. You want those connections already in place.
New Technology, Same Standard
We’re also moving into a new phase with technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and tokenization. These tools bring real opportunity but they also introduce new risks. From a resilience standpoint, the approach stays the same. Any new innovation has to meet the same standards the industry has come to expect from DTCC.
That means thinking through how it could fail, understanding how it connects to other parts of the system and being clear about how you respond when something goes wrong. Again, we’re already doing that work, mapping out scenarios and looking at how issues in one area could impact another.
When something goes wrong, you don’t want to be figuring out who to call. You want those connections already in place.
Make It a Priority—Now
Resilience needs to be treated as a true business priority. The pace of change in our industry is only increasing. The only way to keep up is to be prepared. That starts with asking hard questions early, building resilience into everyday operations and continually testing how you respond. It also means working closely with the rest of the industry. This is a shared challenge, and it requires a shared effort.
There’s no finish line here. The work will keep evolving. But if we stay focused on getting the fundamentals right and continue working together, we’ll be in a much stronger position to handle whatever comes next.