Systemically important institutions often face conflicting objectives. They aim to shape the future while safeguarding stability. They pursue efficiency, yet trust in their systems is equally critical. They seek to drive innovation, while ensuring its acceptance and security.

Deutsche Börse Group operates squarely within this tension. Few markets adopt technological change as rapidly as capital markets. Few are shaped by such a diverse mix of participants, competition, and regulation. Those who fail to keep pace with change in this environment will fall behind. Those who make mistakes in the race for innovation lose trust.

Deutsche Börse Group therefore sees innovation as an evolutionary and collaborative process. It favors dialogue over disruption, combining transparency with speed. It creates protected testing environments in which technologies such as cloud computing, blockchain, and artificial intelligence undergo multiple development cycles. Only after close coordination with trading participants, supervisory authorities and clients are they implemented step by step.

The result is efficient infrastructure everyone can rely on. Innovation that builds trust rather than undermining it.

On the electronic trading floor

The morning of 28 November 1997 illustrates what this approach to innovation looks like in practice. At 8 a.m., the trading floor is as crowded as usual. Yet something has changed: in the background, computers are processing orders and executing trades. For the first time in Germany, exchange trading is also possible entirely electronically.

That morning marks one of Deutsche Börse Group’s most significant transformations: the shift from floor trading to the fully electronic Xetra system. It was not a break with the past, but its logical continuation.

As early as 1991, Deutsche Börse Group had introduced IBIS, a precursor system in which computers collected orders, though a human still pressed the decisive button. Market participants were able to adapt gradually to the new technology, building trust and adapting their processes. In early 1996, development of Xetra began in close cooperation with regulators and the market.

Since then, the technology has set standards and evolved continuously. At launch, 109 equities were traded via Xetra; today the figure is close to 1,200. An order confirmation that took two seconds in 1997 now requires only a fraction of that time. For DAX-listed stocks, Xetra now accounts for more than 70 per cent of equity trading in Europe.

Growth in the cloud

What happens in the event of an earthquake? How far apart must proprietary data centers be located? How frequently must data be mirrored? For many years, such questions defined the expansion of Deutsche Börse Group’s operations. Financial markets rely on their infrastructure, so security comes first.

When the company began migrating its IT infrastructure to the cloud in 2018, some of these concerns receded, while new ones emerged. The cloud offers flexibility, rapid integration of innovative services, scalability, and efficiency. It enhances competitiveness – yet it also means that core data and applications operate beyond the company’s own physical premises.

Once again, the solution to this conflict did not require a major disruption. Instead, there were methodical testing phases, the joint development of rules and security standards with partners such as SAP, Google, and Microsoft, and the formation and leadership of an industry-wide Collaborative Cloud Audit Group, ultimately leading to gradual integration into the business.

Today, more than 75 per cent of Deutsche Börse Group’s operational processes run in the cloud. The result is a cloud-based infrastructure deeply embedded within the regulatory framework – faster, more reliable and more secure. It delivers both greater scalability and enhanced security standards. It forms the foundation for the future of the business model. 

Blockchain instead of the vault

With just a few clicks, a digital security could be issued, secured and made ready for trading. What once took days now takes seconds on the D7 platform of Deutsche Börse Group subsidiary Clearstream. For issuers placing securities worth millions, the increase in efficiency is substantial. Two options are available: the digital central register security, held within Clearstream’s cloud infrastructure; and, since 2025, tokenized crypto-securities based on decentralized blockchain technology.

Both were developed, tested and implemented in collaboration with a range of stakeholders. The first blockchain prototypes emerged in 2018 in partnership with the Deutsche Bundesbank. Germany’s Electronic Securities Act in 2021 established the legal framework for digital securities, and the first issuances via D7 followed that same year. Successful ECB trials in 2024 laid the foundation for tokenized securities.

By the end of 2025, more than two million digital issuances with a total value exceeding €50 billion had been executed via D7. The new tokenization platform, D7 DLT, enables investors without their own DLT infrastructure to participate in tokenized issuances. From 2027 onwards, the majority of the approximately €20 trillion in assets held in custody by Clearstream is expected to be tokenized. The path towards blockchain continues. Step by step, where it makes sense, and always in dialogue with market participants.

Intelligent systems, human oversight

Artificial intelligence now touches virtually every segment of financial markets and will shape the sector’s core processes over the long term. As a cross-cutting technology, it promises significant efficiency gains, yet must still earn trust in terms of security and reliability. Striking the right balance is therefore essential.

Here, too, Deutsche Börse Group follows its established approach: strategic clarity, disciplined testing, broad dialogue – followed by gradual integration into operations. Artificial intelligence is defined as a core strategic pillar, with the ambition of becoming an AI practitioner capable of delivering measurable impact.

Together with strategic partners – particularly hyperscalers – the Group is developing practical use cases and building the scalable AI platform DAISY, designed to enable secure and compliant deployment. At the same time, close cooperation with regulators and industry bodies is shaping a comprehensive AI governance framework.

Initial applications are already in operation. The security management tool OSCAR enhances collateral management for clients, while internal chatbots support employees in their day-to-day work. As with previous technological shifts, Deutsche Börse Group approaches this transformation with an appetite for innovation – but with guardrails rather than recklessness.