London, 08 June 2026

Thomas Murray, the global risk intelligence and post-trade infrastructure specialist, today published new analysis warning that the classic industry understanding of asset safety is being fundamentally reshaped by cyber risk, geopolitical instability, digitalisation, operational resilience challenges, and growing dependencies across post-trade infrastructure.

The analysis, released as part of Thomas Murray’s new “The New Asset Safety” initiative, argues that banks, asset owners, custodians and financial institutions must develop a clearer, more dynamic understanding of the infrastructure beneath their assets, including custodians, financial market infrastructures, central securities depositories, settlement systems, digital platforms and third-party service providers.

A shift in how asset safety is defined

For decades, asset safety has primarily been assessed through custody arrangements, settlement processes and market infrastructure due diligence. This model is no longer sufficient.

Cyber threats, geopolitical shocks, accelerated settlement cycles, sanctions risk, digital asset innovation, operational disruption and regulatory pressure are creating new layers of exposure across the post-trade ecosystem, often outside of traditional risk frameworks.

A new layer of risk “beneath the asset”

Building on more than three decades of expertise in CSD risk, custody and financial market infrastructure analysis, Thomas Murray’s initiative draws on its proprietary risk data covering 150 central securities depositories and financial market infrastructures globally, across 100 countries, along with cyber resilience assessments, risk alerts and global market intelligence. The firm publishes approximately 3,000 newsflashes a year, providing the continuous, real-time intelligence that modern risk management demands. These capabilities are already trusted by global banks representing 80% of assets under custody worldwide.

The reach and depth of this coverage was demonstrated during the ongoing Middle East conflict, where Thomas Murray placed all regional market infrastructures ‘On Watch’ from the outset. Despite the elevated risk environment, operational monitoring confirmed that infrastructure across the region has continued to perform without interruption, a finding that underscores both the resilience of post-trade systems and the value of maintaining active, dynamic oversight rather than relying on periodic review.

The firm warns that the next major disruption in financial markets may not originate from investment decisions or trading activity, but from weaknesses in the infrastructure responsible for settling, safeguarding and supporting assets.

“The next major disruption may not begin with a financial market crisis or war, it may begin in the infrastructure relied upon to safeguard, settle and protect assets. Institutional investors and financial institutions need to understand not only where their assets are held, but how resilient the wider chain of market infrastructure, operational controls, digital systems, third-party providers and geopolitical exposures behind those assets really is.”

Simon Thomas, Executive Chairman, Thomas Murray

Five key findings

  • Asset safety is shifting from traditional custody due diligence to a broader focus on infrastructure resilience.
  • CSDs and custodians are increasingly exposed to cyber, operational and third-party technology risks.
  • Geopolitical shocks can create hidden exposure through custody chains, settlement systems and local infrastructure dependencies.
  • Digital assets and tokenisation have attracted many new, largely untested infrastructure providers with unproven asset safety credentials.
  • Financial institutions require continuous risk intelligence rather than periodic, static due diligence.

A new programme of market intelligence

Through “The New Asset Safety” initiative, including its flagship report, “Beneath the Asset: The New Infrastructure Risk in Global Markets”, Thomas Murray will provide ongoing analysis, briefings and data-led insights across:

  • CSD and market infrastructure resilience.
  • Custodian and custody chain exposure.
  • Cyber resilience and digital risk.
  • Geopolitical developments and their transmission through markets.
  • Regulatory change and operational dependencies.
  • Digital asset and tokenisation infrastructure.

The initiative represents a paradigm shift in how institutional investors and the broader financial industry must think about asset safety: from a static, location-based assessment to a dynamic, system-wide view of resilience.

With long-standing expertise and global data coverage across 100 countries and their financial market infrastructures, including all 150 CSDs, Thomas Murray aims to define a new category in financial risk intelligence: one focused on the safety and resilience of the infrastructure that underpins global markets.

About Thomas Murray

Thomas Murray provides risk intelligence and ratings covering custodians, central securities depositories, market infrastructures and financial systems worldwide. For more than 30 years, the firm has helped financial institutions understand and manage the risks affecting the safety, resilience and performance of their assets across global markets.

Find out more: www.thomasmurray.com           

Enquiries: enquiries@thomasmurray.com

Media contact: Amie Johnstone, Head of Marketing and Communications, pr@thomasmurray.com