Eventus, Datos Insights release new trade surveillance report highlighting increased AI adoption, rising demand for cross-asset, holistic surveillance strategies

New study reveals continued high false-positive rates along with data, technology and talent gaps across global capital markets

AUSTIN, Texas and BOSTON, May 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Eventus, a leading provider of comprehensive, at-scale trade surveillance and financial risk solutions, and Datos Insights, the leading research and advisory partner to the banking, insurance, securities and payments industries, today released a comprehensive new research report: "The Trade Surveillance Revolution: Compliance Shifts and Cutting-Edge Tech Shake-Up Transforming the Surveillance Function." The Datos Insights report, commissioned by Eventus, provides an in-depth look at how global financial institutions are modernizing their surveillance functions with AI, cross-asset correlation and adaptive data strategies. 

Based on detailed interviews with senior executives in trade and market surveillance, compliance and technology from 20 leading global banks and broker-dealers, the study reveals that more than 70% of firms report false positive rates in their surveillance alerts that exceed 25%, putting pressure on already stretched compliance teams by adding to their manual workload and increasing the risk of missed threats from "alert fatigue" that can cause important signals to be overlooked. While the majority of firms interviewed have adopted cloud-based or hybrid technology platforms, many still struggle with siloed data, legacy systems, and inconsistent integration across asset classes and regions. Addressing automation with smarter calibration and better data controls is a high priority.

The volume and quality of data are a key challenge as surveillance depends on accurate, complete data, the report concludes. Trade surveillance systems must process vast amounts of data in real time from multiple sources - including order management systems, market data feeds and execution records. The data, often complex, comes in various formats, making timely processing and analysis a significant challenge. The report highlights how inaccurate timestamps, misaligned or missing data and partial execution records can undermine the effectiveness of surveillance. It states: "Ensuring clean and complete data is critical for accurate detection of suspicious trading patterns, yet it remains a persistent issue."

Travis Schwab, CEO of Eventus, said: "This report surfaces both the challenges and exciting innovation taking place in surveillance functions around the world. From deploying AI and advanced analytics to tackling persistent market and data fragmentation, firms are making important strides but still facing significant obstacles. Collaborating with surveillance providers that bring cross-asset and regulatory expertise, real-world implementation support and a client-driven approach to overcome these obstacles brings the greatest opportunities for success. We're happy to partner with Datos to shed light on these evolving strategies and provide the industry with a new framework for benchmarking maturity in this space."

Vinod Jain, Strategic Advisor at Datos Insights, said: "Effective market surveillance is not just about monitoring; it's about precision, adaptability and leveraging technology to turn high-quality data into actionable insights. As the industry faces growing complexities, integrating AI-driven models and unified frameworks will be key to reducing false positives, strengthening data integrity, and ensuring compliance across jurisdictions. Without reliable, standardized data, even the most advanced surveillance systems risk inefficiency and missed opportunities for detection. False positives are an inherent cost of surveillance, but refinement is key. A balanced approach—where automation enhances efficiency while human validation ensures accuracy—creates a system that is both intelligent and reliable."

Other key findings from the study include:

• Firms are shifting from rules-based surveillance to data-driven frameworks powered by AI, with adaptive filtering, real-time analysis and integrated case management seen as a key opportunity to reduce alert fatigue.
• As AI adoption accelerates, firms must maintain control and transparency. Whether this is achieved through tuning thresholds or auto-closing alerts, workflows must remain auditable and defensible – particularly in the eyes of regulators.
• Market participants are focused on development frameworks that support surveillance across equities, derivatives, fixed income and digital assets. In particular, integrating the latter two asset classes with the wider surveillance function can be challenging due to fragmentation or low liquidity in certain names.
• While firms aim to establish enterprise-wide integrated surveillance with strong governance, practical implementation is often segmented by asset class and legal entities due to jurisdictional requirements and operational complexities. This fragmented approach results in varied surveillance models across regions, requiring tailored compliance measures while maintaining overarching governance standards. Further, firms are challenged with keeping systems up to date with the latest legal requirements, as well as adapting models to new trading strategies, such as for digital assets or new asset classes.
• Institutions are re-evaluating build-vs-buy strategies as customization demands increase, while many are supplementing vendor platforms with in-house tools.
• The surveillance workforce is evolving to include data scientists, behavioral analysts and ex-traders, reflecting the growing sophistication, complexity and scale of surveillance operations.

The report also includes access to a Trade Surveillance Maturity Model and self-assessment tool, enabling firms to benchmark their current capabilities and identify practical next steps for improvement.

To download the full report, visit: https://info.eventus.com/the-trade-surveillance-revolution.

About Eventus

Eventus provides state-of-the-art, at-scale trade surveillance software across all lines of defense. Its powerful, award-winning Validus platform is easy to deploy, customize and operate across equities, options, futures, foreign exchange (FX), fixed income and digital asset markets. Validus is proven in the most complex, high-volume, and real time environments of Eventus' rapidly growing client base, including tier-1 banks, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants (FCMs), proprietary trading groups, market centers, buy-side institutions, energy and commodity trading firms, and regulators. Clients rely on the platform, coupled with the firm's responsive support and product development, to overcome their most pressing trade surveillance regulatory challenges. For more, visit www.eventus.com.

About Datos Insights

Datos Insights is the leading research and advisory partner to the banking, insurance, securities and payments industries – both the financial services firms and the technology providers who serve them. In an era of rapid change, we empower firms across the financial services ecosystem to make high-stakes decisions with confidence and speed. Our distinctive combination of proprietary data, analytics, and deep practitioner expertise provides actionable insights that enable clients to accelerate critical initiatives, inspire decisive action, and de-risk strategic investments to achieve faster, bolder transformation.

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