Market Infrastructure, Modernised: Nasdaq’s Valerie Bannert-Thurner on the Future of Finance

About this episode

Valerie Bannert-Thurner discusses the transformation of Nasdaq and the future of finance in a 24/5 trading environment.

The financial system was built for a world with office hours. Today, markets run around the clock, assets are being tokenised, regulations are tightening, and institutions of every size are being asked to change everything at once. In this episode of Fintech Files from BCG Platinion, Valerie Bannert-Thurner — Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of Nasdaq Financial Technology — takes us inside the transformation of one of the world’s most recognised names in markets. She shares what she's learned over the last fifteen years, unpacks the three converging waves we’re experiencing today, and why trust matters more than ever. Discussion Highlights: Fifteen Years of Waves: How Nasdaq’s technology business evolved from a niche unit into a global fintech platform, and how the pace of change now feels categorically different. The Foundation of Trust: Why integrity is a prerequisite, not a differentiator, and what Valerie has learned about the limits of technology as a substitute for human trust. Always-On Markets and the Collateral Challenge: How the shift to 24/5 trading is forcing a rethink in collateral management, and why tokenisation is the missing piece. Modernising…

People in this episode

Guest: Valerie Bannert-Thurner

Topics covered

• market infrastructure
• financial technology
• trust in finance
• tokenisation
• collateral management
• automation in financial services

Keywords

• financial system
• office hours
• asset tokenisation
• regulations
• collateral challenge
• cloud-native infrastructure
• agentic AI

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Nasdaq, BCG Platinion

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