Latin America’s Stock Exchanges Lead with Advanced Financial Technology within Post-Trade

Latin America is leading a new era of technological transformation in the financial industry. Major stock exchanges in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru have adopted advanced microservice-based solutions that enhance market efficiency and set a new global standard for post-trade systems.

Currently, Latin America is investing more significantly in post-trade processes than any other region, showcasing some of the most promising projects in the financial technology space. B3, one of the largest exchanges in the world, together with the clearinghouses in the nuam initiative (the new exchange that will integrate Colombia Stock Exchange, Lima Stock Exchange and Santiago Stock Exchange into a single capital market), have each embraced this technology. This digital shift, driven by increasing trading volumes and heightened expectations from market participants, responds to a growing demand for faster and more transparent markets. As markets grow more interconnected and investors more active, exchanges face mounting pressure to deliver systems that are faster, more reliable, and flexible. Technology partners like Vermiculus are playing a pivotal role in helping the region redefine its financial infrastructure, equipping exchanges and financial marketplace operators to process complex transactions with both speed and precision. Here, modern technological solutions, built on microservices and modern third-party components, play a critical role in addressing the unique challenges of Latin American markets and supporting their continued growth.

“Our goal is to create a much more attractive and visible capital market that becomes a reference point for both global and local investors. Adopting international best practices and state-of-the-art technologies, creating economies of scale, simplifying access, operating through a single rule book and reducing costs are all aligned with building greater liquidity and business opportunities.” stated Juan Pablo Córdoba, CEO of nuam in a think piece for The International Banker.

Microservices for a scaleable future

Central to this advancement is the shift to microservice-based solutions, moving away from old and outdated IT systems to an architecture where each component operates as an independent service. This change allows systems to scale and evolve more flexibly, enabling updates to specific components independently without impacting the entire system. Microservice-based solutions make it easier for exchanges to handle higher trading volumes, preparing them to meet both present and future demands while establishing a resilient infrastructure for the financial industry.

“The new reality for the financial market and prospects for the future requires an innovative, more agile structure with a scalable capacity that has support for the deposit of new types of assets,” said Viviane Basso, B3’s Chief Operating Officer – Issuers, Depository and OTC, in a previous press release.

B3 is currently in the process of developing an elastically scalable, cloud-based CSD system designed to be future-proof. This microservice-based architecture will empower B3 to handle substantial growth in the Brazilian market, preparing for scenarios such as a ten-fold increase in capacity. In essence, the new CSD-platform is designed to handle several hundreds of millions of accounts and investors. The new system will also introduce a range of advanced functionality to the market, facilitating rapid time-to-market for future product offerings, handling huge amount of data, transaction volumes and a high degree of flexibility.

“The Vermiculus cloud platform will allow B3 to apply state-of-the-art technology and to prepare for increased demand and the expected development of Brazil’s investments ecosystem.” explained Viviane Basso in the same press release.

She added that infrastructure modernization will reduce the time-to-market for new initiatives and for the demands of B3’s clients. “This technology reaffirms our commitment to continuous evolution and to providing an excellent service for the entire market. We will provide this platform to other infrastructures, assuring strength and security for participants such as investors, brokerage houses, investment banks, issuers, and regulators.”

Building a unified market with interoperability

While B3’s major post-trade project primarily focuses on managing anticipated growth in trading volumes, nuam’s priority is on achieving interoperability among the clearinghouses in Santiago, Lima, and Bogotá as a first step towards a unified CCP on derivatives.

For The International Banker, Juan Pablo Córdoba, CEO of nuam explained: “Trades will be cleared through our wholly owned, interoperable central counterparty clearing houses (CCPs) using VeriClear™ from Vermiculus. By employing a single technology suite to run the three markets within the same risk model, we will ensure that the user experience, margin and clearing and settlement rules are those of a single market: the nuam single market.”

He further noted that this technological approach is designed to appeal to international investors and demonstrate nuam’s commitment to market growth:

“By using technology from well-known industry experts, we seek to attract more international players to the market and signal to both local and global participants our long-term commitment to providing best-in-class technologies and services to develop and grow our market. Trading and settlement will be available in four different currencies (US dollars, Chilean pesos, Colombian pesos and Peruvian soles), providing flexibility to all participants and arbitrage and business opportunities to market makers and other specialized players.”

Together, these ambitious projects from B3 and nuam signal a new era for post-trade infrastructure in Latin America. Vermiculus is extremely proud to be part of this journey, making it possible for Latin America’s financial landscape to reach a new milestone through microservice technology.