What began as a regulatory checkbox is fast becoming the backbone of post-trade transformation. This was the key message from the Sibos 2025 session titled “From mandate to mindset: Can the UTI become the DNA of post-trade transformation”, moderated by SWIFT’s Robert Schneider with panelists Gabino Roche Jr. and Alfons Rensmann.
Rensman, Managing Director at Accenture addressed one of the biggest misconceptions: that the Unique Transaction Identifier (UTI) is just another regulatory box to tick. “Having something which goes from front to back all the way through your life cycle of trades gives you great transparency, efficiency … and it really gives you resilience,” he said, noting that firms don’t need to be perfect from day one.
AirTag
To make the case for why identifiers matter, Roche turned to an everyday example from a recent incident at the airport. After waiting in vain for luggage at an airport carousel, he recalled how the airline insisted the missing bags had already arrived. The difference came when another passenger stepped up:
“One other passenger also missed his bag. But he had what I didn’t have, an Apple AirTag. He was able to track his bag itself and could see that behind the wall, it fell off the track … So when he went to the desk, he was able to say: ‘Here’s where my bag is.’ That’s what a UTI is.”
Just as the AirTag gave certainty beyond the airline’s systems, Roche argued, the UTI provides the industry with a consistent anchor to trace trades across silos. “The thing that makes it all work, SWIFT and other solutions, is the thing that makes sure that the trade actually settles. Because no execution counts unless you actually settle correctly,” he said.
Thread the needle
Block trades, where one large order is split into many smaller allocations, were another example where UTIs can stitch together complexity. A single trade can involve buy-sides, sell-sides, custodians, and middle offices, each with their own systems and references. “How are you going to thread the needle between all 100?” Roche asked. The UTI, he argued, provides the common thread that ensures each piece can be traced back to the same origin.
Both speakers pointed to the growing role of AI, but with caution. “The output is only as good as the data is,” said Rensmann, emphasising the need for structured, clean inputs before layering machine learning on top. Roche added that UTIs help AI pinpoint problems in vast transaction datasets rather than “hallucinate.”
Bridging
As T+1 settlement accelerates globally, the panel’s consensus was that UTIs could be a bridge across standards, systems, and asset classes—whether digital or traditional. What began as a regulatory requirement may now be evolving into the “DNA” of post-trade interoperability.
Sibos 2025 plays out in Frankfurt from 29 September to 2 October, with about 12,000 registered delegates. We are there, overview our coverage here.
