This blog is the second in a series exploring how Tokenovate is operationalising the FINOS Common Domain Model (CDM). The first post in the series can be found here. In this entry, Stephen Ashworth, Chief Commercial Officer at Tokenovate, examines the commercial strategy underpinning our platform and the tangible financial benefits for our clients.
Unlocking the Commercial Value of CDM
By Stephen Ashworth, Chief Commercial Officer at Tokenovate.
Consider, for a moment, you are the CEO of a global investment bank. You have $30 trillion in notional derivatives exposure, supported by $1 trillion of collateral assets, held in custody across a sprawling chain of intermediaries and custodians. You spend $10 billion annually on operating expenses, much of it tied to inefficient post-trade processes – manual reconciliations, inconsistent data formats, multiple technology platforms and fragmented workflows; combined, locking up capital to cover high running costs and a multitude of operational risks.
Now let me present a different picture. Standardisation and automation of workflows allows seamless processing of post trade lifecycle events. Inefficiencies and operational risk fall away reducing operating costs and capital reserves to cover errors. Digitisation of trade data and in particular ownership rights enable faster, cheaper and more accurate mobility of asset records allowing improved liquidity and optimisation of capital use driving up returns on collateral assets.
This is the future Tokenovate is building for the industry.
Throughout my career, I have been at the forefront of innovation in financial services, trading and managing risk on new derivatives, and leading the development of the technology that enables their use. At Tullett Prebon (now part of TP ICAP), I spearheaded the development of a MiFID II-compliant peer to peer trading venue for an innovative set of new securities that embedded a derivative payoff but removed all counterparty risk, proving that technology and creative problem-solving can redefine how markets operate within highly regulated environments. Founding Digital Fund Exchange allowed me to explore how distributed ledger technology could enable real-time asset transfer and settlement in the mutual fund industry.
These experiences taught me a core principle: transformation happens when you pair visionary thinking with practical execution.
At Tokenovate, this philosophy drives our mission to revolutionise financial markets using the FINOS Common Domain Model. CDM is a unified standard for representing financial products and lifecycle events. It eliminates inefficiencies by enabling consistent trade representations across systems and counterparties. By operationalising CDM, we are delivering efficiency, automation, and transparency that have long been elusive in post-trade operations.
Collaboration
We can’t do this alone. That’s why Tokenovate is championing collaboration through our Living Lab initiative. Over the next year, we will demonstrate the transformative potential of our technology in real-world applications, focusing on use cases like MMF tokenisation, intra-day repo, and collateral mobility within derivatives and securities financing transactions.
This cohort-based approach is more than a demonstration; it’s a deliberate strategy to drive adoption and unlock economies of scale. By aligning workflows with CDM, the benefits compound, creating a network effect that reduces costs and delivers efficiencies across the entire industry. This collaborative model ensures that participants – from banks to asset managers – can trade and invest more efficiently and safely.
Commercial Impact
As someone who has traded derivatives, I know the numbers matter. They tell the most powerful stories and drive decisions.
Cast your mind back to the CEO mentioned in the introduction. Imagine how they might react to the prospect of reducing post-trade operational costs by 60% within the next five years. Consider the impact of liquidity optimisation, where improved collateral mobility unlocks even a fraction of the $1 trillion of collateral assets flowing like treacle through antiquated settlement systems. Or the potential of tapping into an even smaller percentage of capital buffering assets sitting idle on her balance sheet. How these cost savings could be redeployed into value-creating activities, generating hundreds of millions – perhaps even billions – in additional revenue and profits each year?
Tokenovate’s platform combines the transformative potential of CDM with the transparency and security of blockchain technology. Blockchain provides immutable, auditable records of every transaction and lifecycle event, reducing the need for manual reporting and strengthening operational resilience. Paired with CDM’s standardisation, it creates a platform that delivers immediate cost savings and long-term strategic advantages.
A key aspect of this transformation is Tokenovate’s ability to represent assets digitally within CDM. By extending CDM to model tokenised assets, we reject the narrow, crypto-centric view that tokenisation exists primarily as a speculative vehicle. Instead, we embrace its potential to power real-time settlement, streamline asset transfers, and unlock liquidity, fostering resilience and efficiency in financial systems. This work is particularly impactful in areas like collateral management and securities financing, where digitisation unlocks significant value and transforms static processes into dynamic, value-generating activities.
At Tokenovate, we are not just building technology; we are laying the groundwork for a financial ecosystem that is efficient, transparent, and resilient. Incremental improvements are no longer sufficient. The financial industry is at a pivotal moment requiring transformational change. Tokenovate’s platform, powered by CDM, offers a clear pathway to that transformation, enabling firms to reduce costs, optimise operations, and position themselves as leaders in a competitive market.
Transformation happens when vision meets execution. At Tokenovate, we provide the tools to turn this vision into reality.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for demo videos of our platform and progress. Or sign-up to receive news straight to your inbox at the bottom of this page.
