OSTTRA has appointed former CLS Group Chief Product Officer Keith Tippell as Head of FX, bringing back one of the executives who previously helped build the business when it operated as MarkitServ. The appointment comes as the company accelerates its expansion under new ownership following its acquisition by KKR in October 2025 and a subsequent strategic investment by a consortium of global banks. Tippell returns with more than two decades of experience across some of the most important institutions in foreign exchange market infrastructure, having previously led FX at MarkitServ, served as Chief Product Officer at CLS, and headed FX and Securities Markets at SWIFT.
Post-Trade Infrastructure Emerges as Fastest Growing FX Segment
Foreign exchange remains the world's largest financial market. According to the latest Bank for International Settlements Triennial Central Bank Survey, average daily FX turnover reached $7.5 trillion, with spot, swaps, forwards and options generating enormous operational volumes every trading day.
Every trade creates a sequence of post-trade processes that must be completed accurately and quickly. Counterparties must confirm trade details, reconcile positions, calculate exposures, optimize portfolios, prepare settlement instructions and, in many cases, clear transactions through central counterparties or settlement infrastructures.
OSTTRA occupies a particularly important position because it connects thousands of financial institutions across confirmation, reconciliation, optimization, clearing and settlement workflows. According to the company, its network processes millions of trades each day across multiple OTC asset classes.
The competitive battleground in foreign exchange is shifting away from execution and toward post-trade efficiency. As FX trading volumes continue to reach record levels and settlement cycles become increasingly automated, infrastructure providers are investing heavily in confirmation, reconciliation, compression, optimization and workflow automation.
Tippell's Career Spans Three Core FX Infrastructure Institutions
Tippell's career spans several of the institutions that collectively underpin today's foreign exchange market. At MarkitServ, he helped develop one of the industry's largest FX confirmation platforms before the business merged with Traiana, TriOptima and Reset to create OSTTRA in 2021.
At CLS Group, he oversaw product development for the settlement infrastructure that eliminates principal risk for a large share of global foreign exchange transactions. CLS currently settles payment instructions worth several trillions of dollars every day across the world's largest currencies, making it one of the most systemically important infrastructures in FX.
Earlier, he led FX and Securities Markets at SWIFT, whose messaging network remains central to communication between financial institutions worldwide. The combination of those roles gives him direct experience across trade messaging, post-trade processing, settlement risk reduction and market infrastructure.
Susan Schulte, Chief Product Officer at OSTTRA, said Tippell's experience across FX and OTC derivatives will support the company's efforts to integrate and expand its services following recent ownership changes.
KKR Acquisition Positions OSTTRA for Infrastructure Expansion
The appointment follows a period of significant corporate change. In October 2025, KKR acquired OSTTRA from CME Group and S&P Global in a deal that valued the business at approximately $3.1 billion. Shortly afterwards, a consortium of global banks acquired a minority stake, reflecting the strategic importance of shared post-trade infrastructure to major market participants.
The new ownership structure gives OSTTRA additional financial backing as banks continue outsourcing operational processes that were historically maintained internally. The broader opportunity extends beyond foreign exchange. Banks increasingly seek common infrastructure capable of supporting multiple OTC asset classes, reducing duplicated technology investment while improving resilience, regulatory reporting and operational efficiency.
Keith Tippell said returning to the business represented both a professional and personal milestone: "I am delighted to join OSTTRA at such a pivotal moment. Having spent over twenty years focused on post-trade, I know firsthand the critical role OSTTRA plays in the global FX markets. It is also an exciting personal milestone to return to the foundations built during my time at Markit."
FAQ
What role did Keith Tippell accept at OSTTRA?
Keith Tippell was appointed Head of FX at OSTTRA. He previously served as Chief Product Officer at CLS Group, led FX at MarkitServ (one of the businesses that merged to form OSTTRA in 2021), and headed FX and Securities Markets at SWIFT. His appointment comes as OSTTRA accelerates expansion following its acquisition by KKR in October 2025 and a subsequent strategic investment by a consortium of global banks.
Why is post-trade infrastructure important in foreign exchange markets?
Post-trade infrastructure handles the operational processes that occur after trade execution, including confirmation, reconciliation, exposure calculation, portfolio optimization, and settlement instruction preparation. According to the Bank for International Settlements, average daily FX turnover reached $7.5 trillion, creating enormous operational volumes that require accurate and efficient processing. OSTTRA connects thousands of financial institutions across these workflows and processes millions of trades daily across multiple OTC asset classes.
What was the value of KKR's acquisition of OSTTRA?
KKR acquired OSTTRA from CME Group and S&P Global in October 2025 in a deal that valued the business at approximately $3.1 billion. Following the acquisition, a consortium of global banks acquired a minority stake in the company, reflecting the strategic importance of shared post-trade infrastructure to major market participants.
