The saying, “a burden shared is a burden halved” does not always ring true in finance, where the growing presence of third-party service providers is amplifying risk. Join Randy Priem of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) at the upcoming PostTrade 360° conference, where he will discuss third party risk management in the session titled Consultation time: just how should FMIs manage their cloud and other third party risks? On 3 September. 

Concentration and ecosystem risks are just two of the risks Priem will explore during his panel. Regarding the first, the coordinator of the markets and post-trading unit at FSMA pointed out that it is the result of having the “Amazons, Googles, and Microsofts of the world” increasingly providing cloud services, potentially leading to reduced negotiation power for CCPs and CSDs.

Vendor locking might become an issue. Priem shares an example: “If you are a client of Microsoft and you want to switch to Amazon – and vice versa – the transfer might not go overnight.” Even if exit rights are clear, market participants might find themselves short of alternative providers to choose from.

Ecosystem risk is a tricky one. A CCP that outsources to a third party that, in turn, outsources the job, would lose visiblity of the whole chain. “That will bring risks to the CCP if an entity down the chain does not deliver or has loopholes that lead to threats,” Priem explains. “I want to emphasize that institutions should look into their whole chain – that should be the main takeaway of the session.”

Priem revealed that the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) are currently working on a discussion paper on risks and risk management. He anticipates that the feedback received during his session at the conference will give insight into the next steps that should follow after the paper’s publication in Q3 of 2026 – particularly in examining whether current rules and regulations are sufficient for third-party risk management.

The views expressed during the interview are those of Priem only and do not bind the FSMA nor IOSCO in any way.

• For more information about the PostTrade 360° conference happening on 2-3 September 2026 and to register, click here