Supported by maintainers from ISDA, ISLA, ICMA, JPMorganChase, REGnosys, and TradeHeader, the CDM community has built a strong foundation for financial systems to enable them to speak the same language. In under three years since its open-sourcing, the CDM has evolved from a collaborative proof of concept into a production-grade open standard that is helping financial institutions streamline trade processing, regulatory reporting, and data management across global markets. 

This milestone advances the FINOS mission to help financial institutions scale, modernize, and enhance profitability through open technologies - delivering efficiency, reducing integration costs, and accelerating innovation - and moves us closer to our vision of seeing open standards embedded across global financial workflows.

CDM Active Status: A Proven, Production-Ready Open Standard

Achieving Active Project status at FINOS reflects the CDM’s maturity, stability, and sustained community contribution - powering interoperability across post-trade processes, collateral management, and regulatory reporting.

Active status demonstrates that the CDM now delivers:

• Proven maturity and governance – driven by maintainers from ISDA, ISLA, ICMA, JPMorganChase, REGnosys, and TradeHeader.
• A reliable, evolving codebase and consistent releases  – demonstrated through the CDM 6.0 release (June 2025), which simplified product definitions, payout structures, and margin calculations.
• Ecosystem growth and adoption at scale – leading financial institutions, trade associations, and technology partners are implementing CDM in production and conducting advanced pilots. 
• Operational impact – achieving measurable improvements in efficiency and compliance, streamlining integration, and accelerating innovation through open collaboration.

In short, CDM has evolved from development to delivery - from potential to performance - and now serves as a cornerstone of the financial industry’s modernization journey.

Empowering the Community: Resources for Scalable Adoption

The CDM community continues to broaden access, accelerate learning, and lower barriers to adoption through a comprehensive suite of open resources, tools and major community events.

Resources and tools include:

• Comprehensive documentation and onboarding guides on the FINOS CDM site and GitHub.
• A free introductory training course from TradeHeader, now surpassing 1,000 subscribers.
• The CDM Start-Up Guide, developed by ISDA, enables firms to apply CDM to Collateral Support Annex data structures, including Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) and CDM-Collateral use cases.
• A YouTube masterclass series, featuring practical sessions such as Automating Trade Reporting with ISDA’s Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR).
• The Open Source Regulatory Reporting (ORR) project, developed by FINOS and  supported by BMO and RBC, provides reference implementations and connectivity solutions that advance the shared goal of more efficient, transparent, and cost-effective regulatory oversight.

The CDM tracks at OSFF New York and London draw standing-room-only audiences, underscoring the market’s appetite for open standards that drive real business outcomes. This year’s OSFF New York event features live demonstrations from ISDA, ICMA, and RBC, showcasing practical implementations that improve regulatory compliance, streamline post-trade operations, and unlock efficiency across the trade lifecycle.

Additionally, the annual CDM Showcase, co-hosted by ICMA, ISDA and ISLA in London, is now a major industry fixture exploring innovation in trading and lifecycle management, collateral optimization, and regulatory reporting - reflecting the breadth of CDM’s practical applications.

Together, these events and resources demonstrate how open collaboration translates into practical adoption and aiding financial institutions to deploy CDM more rapidly.CDM in Practice: Business Impact

Building on its strong community foundation, the Common Domain Model (CDM) is now delivering tangible results across the global financial system. Institutions are no longer just exploring the model - they’re deploying it in production, embedding it in core workflows, and realizing measurable gains through automation, standardization, and regulatory efficiency.

Institutional Adoption: Driving Compliance and Efficiency

Through ISDA’s Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) framework, JPMorganChase has adopted the CDM/DRR as its primary reporting mechanism, setting a new standard for automated and accurate regulatory reporting. The Japan Exchange Group (JPX) announced in June that it is using CDM-based DRR in production parallel, advancing regulatory harmonization in the Japanese market, and becoming the first financial institution in Japan and the first clearing organization globally to do so.

DRR adoption is accelerating. Building on BNP Paribas successful implementation of the DRR framework for CFTC rules in 2022, FINOS members DTCC, Goldman Sachs and others are now actively supporting further development and are testing or deploying the framework. ISDA recently released its 8th set of reporting requirements for DRR, adding support for revised derivatives reporting rules in Hong Kong. This broad coverage demonstrates the CDM’s industry-wide validation as a scalable, compliance-ready standard.

“The ISDA DRR establishes a best practice for trade reporting across jurisdictions, based on a golden-source industry interpretation of each set of rules. Using the CDM to transform this interpretation into code reduces the implementation burden for firms, significantly increases the accuracy of reporting, and reduces the risk of regulatory penalties for misreported data,” said Scott O’Malia, ISDA’s Chief Executive.

Collateral Management: Streamlining Operations and Risk Control

Several financial institutions have integrated CDM into their collateral management systems, using the model to automate data extraction and eligibility mapping. Some are leveraging AI-driven workflows to translate legal agreements into CDM structures, reducing manual processes and improving accuracy. These implementations are improving interoperability, liquidity management, and counterparty risk control, while lowering operational overhead.

“Digitally representing ISDA credit support annexes as CDM code streamlines collateral management onboarding and operational resource costs. With ISDA Create, our online contract negotiation platform, the two technology solutions combine to create a streamlined digital documentation strategy. Representing eligible collateral as CDM code supports interoperability between counterparties and infrastructure providers, mitigating disputes and counterparty risk and streamlining onboarding,” said Mr. O’Malia.

Extending the Reach of CDM for Pre-trade Workflows

Pre-trade processing is a key part of the securities lending trade lifecycle, with vendor platforms and venues offering inventory discovery and trade matching. However, recent studies have clearly established that incorrect trade booking is still a primary source of settlement failure. In conjunction with their members, and based upon securities lending best practice, ISLA have enhanced the CDM to support pre- and post- trade functions and processes, with several production and advanced proof of concept implementations underway.

“With the market moving to T+1 – and the imminent arrival of T+0 and intra-day lending – having a canonical format for representing trades and the assets within them is critical.” said Chris Rayner, Senior Associate Market Infrastructure and Technology at ISLA. 

ICMA has extended the CDM to cover repo and bond transactions.  The CDM now enables firms to automate trade execution, clearing, settlement and associated lifecycle events and processes of a wide array of repo transactions and features.

“ CDM will help accelerate digitalisation of the repo and bond markets across traditional and DLT platforms that depend on standardised data and lifecycle event processing.” said Georgina Jarratt, Managing Director, Head of FinTech and Digitalisation at ICMA.

Ecosystem in Action: Service Providers and Technology Partners Driving Adoption

The strength of the Common Domain Model (CDM) lies not only in its institutional adoption but also in the growing network of technology providers, consultancies, and service firms embedding it into their products and workflows. 

REGnosys: Powering the DRR and Industry Integration

REGnosys, creator of the Rosetta platform, serves as a core technology driver of CDM adoption. The Rosetta engine is the first DRR-native trade data platform, allowing firms to author, execute, and validate reporting logic directly against CDM definitions. REGnosys has partnered with DTCC, enabling firms to validate DRR reports generated via Rosetta against DTCC repositories - ensuring CDM-based submissions are accurate and regulator-ready.

“The Common Domain Model becoming an active project at FINOS marks a pivotal milestone for the entire financial industry. It signals that CDM continues to evolve from a promising innovation into a truly open standard that’s now being developed collaboratively across the ecosystem. This step will accelerate the adoption of digital, interoperable processes in financial markets and reinforces the shared commitment to transparency, standardisation and open innovation.” said Leo Labeis, Founder and CEO of REGnosys. 

TradeHeader: Building CDM Capability and Industry Literacy

TradeHeader plays a dual role as both educator and technical enabler in the CDM ecosystem. The firm authored the first official FINOS CDM training course, now exceeding 1,000 subscribers globally. It also helped develop the open-source Python code generator for CDM - in collaboration with CloudRisk and FTAdvisory - leading to the first official Python CDM package. Through its consulting and tooling work, TradeHeader helps institutions and vendors accelerate CDM implementation, lowering integration costs and improving consistency across data pipelines.

“Our goal is to make the CDM accessible and value-driven — empowering firms to adopt it faster, with confidence and tangible results.”  said Marc Gratacos, Founder and Managing Partner of TradeHeader. 

Tokenovate: Embedding CDM in Post-Trade Automation

Tokenovate offers a CDM-native post-trade automation platform for derivatives and collateral. Its software integrates CDM directly into workflows, ingesting legal agreements and trade data to dynamically generate blockchain-enabled settlement and collateral processes. By using CDM as its foundation, Tokenovate delivers real-time transparency and reduced reconciliation overhead, demonstrating how open standards underpin next-generation market infrastructure.

“Embedding CDM at the heart of our platform ensures consistent, automated post-trade processing that reduces errors and improves speed - ultimately freeing up liquidity to fuel further growth.” said Ciarán McGonagle, Chief Legal & Product Officer at Tokenovate.

A Growing Network of Innovators

Beyond these core contributors, a broader network of service providers and consultancies - including firms specializing in digital assets, data modeling, and post-trade infrastructure - are integrating CDM into production systems and client solutions. Their collective work is multiplying CDM’s impact, reinforcing its role as the industry standard for financial interoperability.

New Horizons and Opportunities

The CDM is entering a new phase of innovation - expanding beyond its core use cases to power the next generation of financial data and risk infrastructure. This evolution reflects not only the project’s maturity but also the community’s shared commitment to scaling open standards that deliver both business and technical benefit.

Expanding the Model: From Markets to New Frontiers with Tokenization

Tokenization and digital assets are transforming financial markets, driving demand for faster, more precise settlement and collateral mobility. These new asset representations unlock significant operational efficiency and flexibility. Common standards that seamlessly connect trades with post-trade processes are a critical enabler of this shift — linking traditional lifecycles to emerging tokenised asset workflows. The CDM is built to do exactly that.

New CDM Applications

New working groups are extending CDM to address emerging financial and technological challenges.

• Nick Moger (JPMorganChase) joined as a maintainer in 2025, contributing enterprise-scale experience from CDM and DRR adoption.
• The Tokenized Assets Working Group, chaired by Ciarán McGonagle (Tokenovate), is developing data and process standards in CDM that ensure tokenised assets can move consistently across different infrastructures. 
• The Physical Risk Working Group, chaired by Johnny Mattimore (MKM Research Labs), is integrating climate and environmental risk data into CDM, enabling better modeling of physical risk within existing workflows.
• Most recently, ISDA and Tokenovate announced the formation of the Smart Contract Task Force, aiming to build an open-source library of production-ready CDM functions and workflows focused on automating post-trade events. For further information and to register your interest, please go here and send an email to FINOS to subscribe for updates.

Harnessing AI: Making CDM More Accessible and Dynamic

The community is exploring artificial intelligence and automation to make CDM more intuitive for both developers and business users. Early experiments with large language models and IDE plug-ins show promise in generating CDM trade data, mapping contracts, and turning documentation into interactive, intelligent tools - reducing time-to-adoption and broadening engagement.

Looking Ahead: CDM 7.0 and the Road to Embedded Standards

The upcoming CDM 7.0 release (planned for November 2025) will introduce major updates to how financial products, collateral, and legal agreements are represented in the model - advancing interoperability and simplifying integration for both new and existing adopters.

These developments build directly on the FINOS vision: open standards embedded into the workflows, platforms, and policies of global financial institutions. As CDM expands its reach and relevance, it remains a core enabler of modernization and sustainable efficiency - transforming open collaboration into shared value across the financial ecosystem.

Join the CDM Community

The Common Domain Model is more than an open standard - it’s a collaborative movement transforming how the financial industry defines, processes, and reports transactions. Whether you are a financial institution, technology provider, or market infrastructure participant, there are many ways to get involved, contribute, and benefit.

Start by exploring the CDM documentation and sample models on the FINOS CDM website and GitHub. You can also access a growing library of training and educational resources, including:

• The free 90-minute Introduction to CDM course, developed by TradeHeader, for a clear overview of the model and its applications.
• The CDM YouTube Masterclass Series, featuring sessions on digital regulatory reporting, collateral workflows, and AI-powered integration. (e.g. an Automating Trade Reporting with DRR session, or workshops on CDM workflows). 
• The CDM Start-Up Guide, developed by ISDA, enables firms to apply CDM to CSA data structures, including Digital Regulatory Reporting (DRR) and CDM-Collateral use cases.

The CDM community is open and active, with multiple working groups covering Derivatives, Collateral, Tokenized Assets, Physical Risk, Technology Architecture, and more - all of which welcome new participants from both business and technical backgrounds. 

Stay connected by joining the CDM mailing list, exploring the community calendar, and attending upcoming meetings or showcases.

By participating, you become part of a community that is shaping the future of financial interoperability - advancing the FINOS mission to help institutions scale, modernize, and enhance profitability through open technologies.

Author: Jane Gavronsky, FINOS, COO