But something has been building up for a while, and then last month it became so abundantly obvious that I thought it’s worth pointing out.
Pick almost any big change in market structure right now and DTCC is at the centre of it. Its National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) moved to 24×5 clearing in June, ahead of the expected launch of 23/5 trading on Nasdaq later this year. Its Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC), the incumbent clearer for US Treasuries, is gearing up for the SEC’s clearing mandate, which takes effect for cash trades on 31 December and for repo on 30 June 2027.
In July, DTCC processed its first live trades using tokenised DTC-held assets, with more than 30 firms taking part, and its tokenisation service is slated to launch this month. Having helped lead the US move to T+1 in May 2024, it is now supporting firms as the EU, UK and Switzerland prepare to follow on 11 October 2027. And last month it made a strategic investment in iCapital as part of a push into wealth and private markets.
So pick any major talking point, trend of development at the moment and you’ll find DTCC at the centre of it. Digital assets, settlement cycles, US Treasury clearing, continuous trading and even private markets and wealth.
As a single observation, that might not be so newsworthy, but when coupled with building a team that resembles Marvel’s build-up of the Avengers ensemble circa 2008-2019, we have ourselves a story (we’ll let you decide who plays Captain America).
The La Salla effect
The hiring has gathered pace since Frank La Salla took over as president and CEO in August 2022, succeeding Mike Bodson.
This move itself was huge news in the GC world at the time. A 28-year veteran of BNY Mellon, where he was latterly CEO of issuer services, La Salla had big shoes to fill (Global Custodian itself handed Bodson a Lifetime Achievement award upon his retirement).
But since his appointment, he has not only delivered on key projects, but has looked to expand DTCC’s reach into new areas, and repeatedly looked externally for senior talent, often to the firms DTCC serves.
Among the early moves, Brian Steele joined in October 2023 as president of clearing and securities services after nearly 20 years at Goldman Sachs. He was brought in to lead businesses spanning equity and fixed income clearing, asset services, wealth and institutional trade processing, the engine room for much of today’s agenda.
That same autumn, DTCC acquired Securrency, a digital asset technology provider, and with it its CEO, Nadine Chakar, who became global head of DTCC Digital Assets. Chakar had previously run both State Street Digital and State Street Global Markets.
The list goes on when it comes to familiar names to the Global Custodian audience. In April 2025, Talia Klein arrived from BNY, where she was head of tokenisation, to lead wealth management services. Her remit has since widened to wealth and investment solutions, spanning funds, insurance, retirement and private markets, and she now sits as an observer on iCapital’s board. “Private markets have traditionally lacked the operational standards that exist in public markets,” she said when that investment was announced.
A year of headline hires
The past year has added four more senior names that we’ve tracked.
In September 2025, Thomas Sullivan joined as managing director of DTCC Digital Assets, reporting to Chakar. He was previously head of business development for digital assets at Société Générale, and before that ran broker-dealer operations at Commerzbank.
Two months later, Arianne Collette joined from Morgan Stanley in the newly created role of head of US equities, reporting to Val Wotton, global head of equities solutions. At Morgan Stanley she was chief operating officer and head of strategy for reinvestment, and she is co-founder and global chair of Women in Securities Finance. Her brief is to drive growth, expand markets and improve efficiency in DTCC’s US equities business.
In February, Adam Watson arrived from BNY as head of asset services, reporting to Steele. He had led BNY’s global custody client franchise and, most recently, client insight and innovation in asset servicing, having previously spent more than a decade at JP Morgan.
Then came Samir Pandiri. Effective 28 September, he reports directly to La Salla and sits on the executive committee, overseeing global client management, DTCC Consulting Services and marketing and communications. A Global Custodian Legend, Pandiri was global CEO of asset servicing at BNY Mellon and has since held senior roles at Broadridge International, Apex Group and TMF Group.
La Salla said Pandiri’s “unique combination of skills will enable us to build stronger relationships across the industry”.
Obviously, the team was already stacked with talent (apologies that being an incumbent has excluded those from being singled out in the article about new additions), so these additions have only strengthened what was already a strong team.
The common threads
Look at the line-up as a whole and three patterns stand out.
The first is a distinctly BNY flavour. La Salla, Pandiri, Watson and Klein are all BNY alumni, and Chakar also worked there earlier in her career. For a firm whose depository underpins US custody, that pedigree in securities services makes sense.
The second is that most of these executives have sat on the other side of the table. They come from the banks, custodians and broker-dealers DTCC serves, and know its pressure points from the client side. Steele said as much when he joined: “I know first-hand that DTCC is trusted and respected by the industry.”
The third is a more commercial edge. A chief client officer on the executive committee, a growth-focused head of US equities and a wealth head with an observer seat on iCapital’s board are not the hallmarks of a passive utility. Digital assets expertise, meanwhile, is no longer confined to the digital unit: a former BNY head of tokenisation now runs wealth.
The real test
The timing matters because the next 12 months will test DTCC like few before them. The Treasury cash clearing deadline falls on 31 December, the tokenisation service is due to go live, and Nasdaq and NYSE Arca are both targeting extended-hours launches before the year is out. Repo clearing follows in June, and European T+1 in October 2027.
Meanwhile, Chakar is set to play (another) key role in the building of the securities industry in the coming years in such a pivotal role.
She previously has highlighted that “the safest, most direct path to decentralisation runs through trusted financial market infrastructures”. If she is right, more and more of the industry’s future will be routed through DTCC, and through the team La Salla has quietly assembled.
The line-up is set. Now it has to deliver.