Our current set of awards categories reflects exciting changes underway in the securities operations industry.
We are knee deep in awards season for multiple disciplines and industries. The securities operations industry is no different as we launched the nominations process for the 2026 FTF News Technology Innovation Awards on January 12.
Grygo is the chief content officer for FTF & FTF News.
The current FTF Awards program closely follows the dynamics of cutting-edge technology, operations management concerns, greater financial crime threats, and regulatory creation and enforcement policies. Our current set of categories reflects the exciting changes underway in the industry, such as the Best Digital Asset Custody Provider, Best Digital Asset Solution, Best Generative AI Solution, and Best Machine Learning Solution. Distributed ledger and artificial intelligence technologies are becoming the new keystones of the operations industry landscape as real results are catching up to the hype. We hope that pushing for excellence in these areas will help the industry advance securities operations for all.
We still feature the classic categories for this kind of an innovation challenge, and we honor the men and women whose leadership is advancing the industry, such as:
- FinTech Business Leader of the Year: To earn this award, a business-side executive at a fintech or solutions provider must drive growth, strategy, or operational excellence. The honoree will have a history of pursuing a vision in scaling their organization, expanding market presence, or advancing the firm’s competitive position; and
- Technology Leader of the Year: This award spotlights a technology executive at a groundbreaking fintech company or a solutions provider with a history of excellence that has driven innovation in capital markets technology. The winner must show vision in advancing a firm’s IT capabilities, delivering breakthroughs, or impacting industry directions.
We also honor Service Provider of the Year and Software Solution of the Year – categories that are highly competitive via the voting process.
The selection of the winners in almost all the categories is determined via a voting process that is restricted to those who work in the securities industry because we believe peers should honor peers.
The one category that is not selected by voters is the Editor’s Choice Award for Operational Excellence. However, people in the securities industry, the FTF News editor, a panel of judges, and FTF News readers can nominate a provider, industry group, end-user financial services firm, user group, or individual that has embarked upon a successful financial IT project or industry initiative that has advanced operational efficiency and governance. The editor and the judges will pick the top nominees and then the ultimate winner.
The nominations process is open to relevant industry professionals from financial technology and services providers, consulting firms, industry utilities, industry bodies, regulators, exchanges, and financial services institutions such as investment banks, broker/dealers, custodians, buy-side and sell-side firms.
The submission process for nominations will close on March 6, 2026. The full list of nominees will come from a review of the submissions by the FTF News editorial board. The list of nominees will be in place when the voting process begins on April 3 and continues through May 1, 2026. The winners will be announced on June 5. The official awards ceremony will be held in New York City during the month of June.
Get involved with the FTF Awards nomination process & view this year’s full list of award categories here.
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