Nasdaq & AWS Unveil Fintech Blueprint for Cloud Markets

In an attempt to future-proof market infrastructure by making it more connected, dynamic and intelligent, Nasdaq and AWS have expanded their strategic partnership to offer software, infrastructure, data management and services.

This blueprint will help financial market operators move away from rigid, legacy systems towards cloud-native infrastructures that can adapt to new demands, technologies and regulatory changes.

Not only will it offer a low-latency, highly resilient architecture that maintains continuous operations under extreme conditions, protecting investor confidence, but it will also enable markets to maintain strict control over their data.

By using AWS’s global network and low-latency traffic routing to support high-speed connections for investors, market participants can interact transparently across global exchanges and improve globally interconnected markets built on a common data lake architecture. 

Adena Friedman, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Nasdaq, says: “Local economies flourish when capital markets are robust, and global investors can confidently channel capital across borders.

“Conversely, a strong global economy is reliant on local markets that are highly dynamic, where innovators can scale, and capital can seamlessly connect. Powering both creates a virtuous cycle of value creation, driving economic growth and wealth generation.

“The unique combination of Nasdaq’s technology expertise and AWS’s advanced infrastructure enables us to solve the industry’s most complex challenges that have hampered the growth and scalability of markets around the world. 

“By reducing complicatedness, friction, and fragmentation we are fortifying the financial system with greater connectivity and resilience and enabling a new era of economic growth and prosperity.”

The fintech blueprint

AWS and Nasdaq’s blueprint will focus on boosting competitive differentiation, operational excellence and enhancing innovation across markets for market operators to effectively executive their modernisation strategies.

The blueprint focuses on three core areas:

• Nasdaq Eqlipse

This next-generation marketplace technology platform combines Nasdaq’s deep industry expertise, advanced architecture and client-driven innovation into a cloud-ready, unified solution for global capital markets. 

Nasdaq Eqlipse aims to serve the changing needs of market operators by offering globally standardised APIs to maintain interoperability and cloud-native applications for clearing, central securities depository (CSD) services and surveillance. 

The platform has proven scalability and is already supported by more than 135 market infrastructure providers across the world. 

Nasdaq Eqlipse Intelligence is a new solution that will unlock the full potential of market operators’ data. It empowers operators to optimise operational efficiency and decision-making through modern, cloud-based data management, reporting and analytics. 

This solution helps catalyse further AI deployment at scale. This will redefine how marketplaces function and move towards intelligence, data-driven market ecosystems. 

• AWS, exchange and trading participant infrastructure near the power global capital markets

This single, co-located environment will address the demands of global capital markets, such as security, resilience, low latency and proximity. 

By utilising AWS’s deep operational expertise and high-performing, scalable infrastructure, this solution allows market operators to deploy trading platforms and core systems in the same locations as AWS participant infrastructure and compute services. 

For the first time, global trading participants can operate co-located trading systems with minimal latency and access industry-leading compute power directly adjacent to core exchange systems. They can also benefit from high-bandwidth, seamless connections to AWS’s Global Regions through AWS's global network and AWS Direct Connect service. 

This setup ensures market operators maintain full control over their data while enjoying the performance and scale of a global cloud infrastructure. This will help to create a more agile, connected and resilient financial ecosystem.

• Services deployment model

A new services deployment model will combine the expertise of Nasdaq and AWS.

Market operators can utilise this to ease operational burdens by gaining direct access to both companies’ extensive capital markets knowledge. 

The model is powered by AWS, helps market operators to direct their technology resources toward growth-focused strategies and minimise the risks liked with transformation. 

This supports a more efficient and faster modernisation journey and boosts overall operational resilience.

Matt Garman, CEO at AWS, says: “Building on our 15-year partnership, Nasdaq and AWS are furthering our shared vision to develop technology that simplifies and streamlines capital markets.

"Together, we are helping market operators provide seamless connectivity for markets and investors anywhere in the world, with a blueprint for modernization and innovation, and the ability to unlock new opportunities for innovation and growth in capital markets.”

Real-world deployments 

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is expanding its partnership with Nasdaq to focus on developing services for data intelligence and insights, colocation and client interactions. 

South Africa’s bourse technology enablement journey can utilise edge computing infrastructure, modernise its technology and explore AI to deliver innovative market solutions through the blueprint service deployment model. 

Leila Fourie, Group CEO of the JSE said: “This strategic collaboration is an extension of the long-standing relationship the JSE has with Nasdaq. 

“The market infrastructure developed in partnership with Nasdaq and AWS will open the door to greater global market interconnectivity with minimal latency, which will support increased liquidity and capital flows between the US and South African capital markets. 

“We will be setting new standards for the industry through innovation and technology that creates value for market participants."

The strategic importance to the fintech industry

This strategic partnership between AWS and Nasdaq will help tackle fragmented and outdated legacy systems - a key fintech challenge. 

Market operators, fintechs and exchanges can modernise without operational disruption through the modular, cloud-native infrastructure. This will speed up the adoption of cutting-edge technologies like AI analytics and real-time data processing and allow fintech companies to launch products more efficiently. 

The blueprint introduces high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity through AWS’s global network, creating a common architecture for market participants to interact across regions seamlessly.

Nasdaq Eqlipse and Eqlipse Intelligence will unlock the value of market data, allowing fintechs to build smarter services, such as improved risk management tools and advanced trading algorithms. 

The AWS-Nasdaq blueprint is strategically important to the fintech industry as it enables faster innovation, expands global reach, enhances trust and reduces costs and complexity. 

Financial institutions can rely on this to become a leader in the next evolution of global financial services.

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