Virginie O’Shea is a capital markets fintech research specialist, with two decades of experience in tracking financial technology developments in the sector, with a particular focus on regulatory developments, data and standards. She is the founder of Firebrand Research, a new research and advisory firm focused on providing capital markets technology and operations insights for the digital age.

Most recently, she was a research director with Aite Group, heading up the Institutional Securities & Investments practice and covering data management, collateral management, legal entity onboarding, and post-trade technology. In this role she spearheaded strategy for the practice and managed a team of eight analysts across the globe.

Ms. O’Shea has spoken at industry conferences including Sibos, TradeTech, FISD events, and The Network Forum, and is actively engaged in a number of post-trade industry standards groups.

Prior to Aite Group, she was managing editor of A-Team Group’s flagship publication,A-Team Insight, where she covered financial technology from the front to back office, including trading technology, market data, low latency, risk management, regulatory impacts on IT, and reference data. During her time at the firm, she was heavily involved in planning risk and data management events and creating multimedia offerings, including podcasts, webinars, and video interviews. Prior to this, Ms. O’Shea was group editor of Investor Services Journal and Alternatives magazine, focused on the asset servicing and buy-side communities. Before that, she was editor of STP Magazine and online service stpzone.com, where she focused on financial technology in the capital markets.

Ms. O’Shea holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh.