The Architecture of Capital Markets: Understanding the Infrastructure that Prices Risk and Moves Capital

Capital markets are often described through screens, prices, and headlines, but beneath the surface lies an infrastructure, a system of contracts, incentives, institutions, and constraints that channels capital, prices risk across time, and, when stressed, can transmit failures at scale.The Architecture of Capital Markets approaches modern finance as an engineered system. Through narrative storytelling, clear conceptual frameworks, and real-life examples, the book explains how capital markets are built, how they function day-to-day, and why they sometimes fail. It presents financial products, market participants, venues, risk transfer mechanisms, regulatory frameworks, and market plumbing, always emphasizing how the pieces fit together.Written for professionals without a formal finance background, including consultants, technologists, and decision-makers working on capital markets initiatives, it provides a mental model of how the system works as a whole, and why understanding its architecture matters.About the Author Ferréol de Naurois is a capital markets expert with over three decades of experience advising, designing, and delivering technology-driven change across trading and risk management, post-trade operations, market infrastructure, and regulatory compliance. He has advised senior executives and led complex transformation programs for investment banks, asset managers, and market-infrastructure providers. He is the co-founder of Iridium Consulting, a NY–based boutique advisory firm specializing in capital markets transformation.The Architecture of Capital Markets reflects his conviction that markets are best understood not through isolated products or tactics, but as engineered systems whose design choices shape outcomes, resilience, and risk. Read more