STS Digital has been recognised for its marketing strategy as financial services firms increasingly use technology, data and digital channels to explain increasingly complex products to institutional audiences.

The digital-asset derivatives firm received the Marketing Innovation (Asia) award at the inaugural WealthBriefing Innovation in Marketing Awards 2026, announced September 17 by WealthBriefing publisher ClearView Financial Media. The awards recognise marketing initiatives across the global wealth-management industry, with entries assessed by an independent judging panel.

For STS Digital, the recognition comes as the company expands a technology platform designed to give institutional clients access to digital-asset derivatives, structured products and spot trading.

The company's marketing challenge is unusual: explaining sophisticated derivatives infrastructure and institutional trading capabilities to an audience that includes funds, financial institutions and professional investors, while operating in a digital-asset market where product complexity and regulatory considerations can make communication difficult.

STS Digital's platform currently provides access to more than 400 tokens across spot, vanilla and exotic options and structured products, with trading available through its user interface, APIs and voice channels. The company says its institutional RFQ infrastructure can return pricing in sub-second response times.

That product breadth gives marketing a role beyond traditional brand promotion. The company needs to translate concepts such as options pricing, structured payoffs, liquidity provision and risk management into a proposition that institutional counterparties can understand and evaluate.

The WealthBriefing award places that communication strategy within a broader transformation underway across wealth management. Technology is increasingly influencing not only portfolio and operational workflows but also how firms communicate with clients and prospects.

A 2026 study from Cerulli Associates and Vista Equity Partners found that AI-specific spending among surveyed wealth-management firms is projected to rise from an average of 8% to 15% of technology budgets by the end of 2026. The study covered 68 firms representing approximately $1.2 trillion in combined assets under management.

Marketing is part of that wider technology shift. Firms are increasingly expected to provide digital experiences that explain products clearly, support personalization and connect content with broader client-engagement systems.

STS Digital's own expansion illustrates the complexity of that environment. In March, the company launched a structured-products platform aimed at institutional investors and other professional market participants, while a separate integration with BitGo's Go Network enabled clients to trade derivatives with STS Digital while keeping assets in BitGo custody.

Those developments give the marketing function more technical material to communicate. Rather than promoting a single financial product, STS Digital is building a narrative around institutional market access, derivatives expertise, liquidity, structured products and regulated infrastructure.

The company's Chief Marketing Officer, Karen Bertoli, described that objective as making a sophisticated institutional derivatives business easier for the market to understand. The award, she said, validates an approach intended to connect brand-building with commercial objectives.

That positioning also reflects a broader shift in financial-services marketing. A 2026 report from the Financial Marketing Institute tracks digital engagement across wealth management and other financial-services sectors, while research from Avaloq found that 76% of surveyed wealth professionals believe AI could help provide more personalized client service.

For marketing teams, the implication is that technical expertise and communication are becoming increasingly interconnected. As financial products become more technology-driven, marketers need enough product and market understanding to turn complex capabilities into credible, useful information without oversimplifying the underlying proposition.

STS Digital's recognition therefore illustrates a broader development in WealthTech marketing: the marketing function is increasingly being used to translate technology, financial infrastructure and product innovation into a clearer institutional value proposition.

Market Landscape

Wealth management marketing is becoming more closely connected to digital transformation, AI adoption and increasingly sophisticated client-engagement technology.

The shift is particularly relevant for firms selling complex financial products. Digital channels can expand reach, but communicating derivatives, structured products and institutional infrastructure requires greater emphasis on education, credibility and precise product explanations.

Research from the FCA's 2026 wealth-management survey also shows that firms are increasing their use of digital channels, while AI adoption remains an evolving area. The regulator reported that 13% of surveyed firms were already using in-house or third-party AI tools, rising to 45% when firms considering AI adoption were included.

Strategic Outlook

The STS Digital award comes at a time when wealth-management marketing is moving closer to technology and business strategy.

For firms operating in complex financial markets, marketing increasingly has to explain not just what a company offers, but how its technology, infrastructure, risk framework and product architecture work together.

That creates opportunities for content marketing, digital experiences, data-driven engagement and AI-assisted personalization. It also raises the importance of accuracy and regulatory awareness when marketing sophisticated financial products to professional and institutional audiences.

Top Insights

• STS Digital's WealthBriefing recognition highlights marketing's expanding role, particularly for firms communicating complex derivatives, structured products and institutional digital-asset infrastructure.
• WealthTech marketing is becoming more technology-driven, as firms use digital channels, AI and data to improve product communication and client engagement.
• Complex financial products require clearer technical storytelling, making editorial expertise increasingly important when explaining derivatives, liquidity and structured investment solutions.
• AI investment is accelerating across wealth management, with surveyed firms expecting AI-specific technology spending to increase substantially during 2026.
• STS Digital's expanding product infrastructure creates new marketing demands, requiring the company to communicate trading technology, institutional access and regulated operations together.

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