Introduction

In Almaty, at WFC 2025, a recurring theme surfaced: Central Securities Depositories (CSDs) are not just back-office enablers—they are the trust anchors of capital markets. The conversations made clear that for capital markets to evolve, these infrastructures must push beyond resilience and neutrality into active platforms for innovation. To lead this transition, CSDs must anchor three imperatives: interoperability, modernization grounded in risk awareness, and resilient governance. Below, we trace how these imperatives surfaced in the Product Owner’s takeaways—and where we should anchor our narrative going forward.

Interoperability & Global Connectivity: Building Bridges, Not Silos

One of the most emphatic messages from WFC 2025 was the need to reduce friction within the post-trade ecosystem. That means thin, non-exclusive, open links between market infrastructures. Rather than building more closed systems, the emphasis must be on direct, interoperable CSD-to-CSD links, enabling cross-border settlement that is efficient and less vulnerable to third-party political or regulatory shifts.

These links must preserve settlement integrity and clarity of ownership, while broadening access for investors. When connectivity is open (but governed), liquidity corridors begin to form. In regions pushing for infrastructure autonomy, direct regional links reduce reliance on external nodes that may be subject to external pressures. The shift is from monolithic rails to a mesh of bridges.

Innovation & Technology Adoption in FMIs: Measured Leap, Not Blind Sprint

Roughly 40% of FMIs are currently undergoing some form of modernization or tech transformation—often driven by pressures like the move to T+1 or new digital-asset use cases. The buzz at WFC 2025 confirmed that technologies like AI, DLT, blockchain, cloud, and tokenization are integral to strategic roadmaps.

However, innovation must never overshadow stability, risk management, regulatory clarity, or cybersecurity. At many CSDs the real question is: which initiatives are must-haves and which are nice-to-haves? Each proposed project should undergo rigorous cost-benefit analysis. The allure of novelty can mislead; impactful adoption will always be use-case driven.

Tokenization & Digital Assets: Promise, Trade-offs & Realism

The notion that tokenization will form a foundational layer of tomorrow’s markets was front and center. Analysts estimate it could reach 10% of global GDP (~$16 trillion) by 2030. CSDs are increasingly repositioning themselves to support both traditional and tokenized assets, enhancing transparency, efficiency, and liquidity.

Yet the path is not without debate. One key tension: public vs permissioned networks. Some jurisdictions lean toward permissioned designs for tighter control and governance; others see public chains as offering greater openness. FMIs must resolve this based on the use cases they support, not by default. Blindly adopting DLT is less useful than adopting it where it delivers true efficiency gains (e.g. cross-border settlement and collateral mobility).

A further caveat: liquidity challenges. While many assets may be tokenized on-chain, trading volumes often remain thin. The “tokenization of everything” is only valuable if tradability follows.

Settlement Efficiency & Market Standards: Converging Toward Coherence

To make interoperability meaningful, standards must be built across domains—settlement deadlines, identity protocols, trade matching, liquidity reporting, and more. Without standards, integration becomes brittle.

Several markets are accelerating toward T+1 settlement as an intermediate step—while also exploring atomic settlement for tokenized assets. For CSDs, planning for extended operation hours (even 24/7) is no longer optional—it’s a strategic imperative.

As anchors in the post-trade ecosystem, CSDs have both the mandate and the leverage to drive standardization, reducing friction and alignment costs for market participants.

Regulation, Governance & Risk Management: The Dual Foundations

Infrastructure change can’t succeed without the guardrails of trusted regulation. At WFC 2025, participants acknowledged how regulation can both limit and legitimize innovation.

Risk profiles are increasingly complex—not just systemic or operational, but cybersecurity, vendor/third-party, legal, and regulatory. CSDs must adopt dynamic risk management frameworks and embed ongoing stress testing, business continuity planning, and governance oversight.

In Europe, the evolving Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) underscores the direction: bringing consistent ICT risk, business continuity, incident reporting, and resilience requirements to financial entities and their critical vendors.

Moreover, as digital assets gain prominence, regulators are scrambling to define how these should integrate into legal frameworks. Only a minority of digital assets currently reside under regulatory clarity—this is a transition space to watch closely.

Resilience & Regional Fragmentation: Preparing for the Unthinkable

Fragmentation is no longer hypothetical—the interplay of geopolitics, markets, and regulation already stresses cross-border capital flows. WFC 2025 emphasized the need for robust structural design and interconnections to guard against instability.

CSDs must go beyond simple recovery metrics (like RTO/RPO). Resilience must anticipate black swan disruptions, demand constant readiness, and expect stress across vendor ecosystems. In regions where regulation mandates (e.g. DORA) bring vendor oversight, the resilience lens must include third parties. 

In crisis moments, access to decision-makers is critical. But equally critical is muscle memory: cross-stakeholder rehearsals and simulations ensure all parties know how to act. Resilience isn’t just design—it is practiced discipline.

Data, Reporting & ESG: The Underpinning Dimensions

Data is both asset and risk. As CSDs evolve, they must think about data sharing protocols, identity frameworks, reporting standards, and how to balance openness with confidentiality.

Though less dominant in conversation than technology or risk, ESG and sustainable development are increasingly surfacing in capital markets and post-trade strategy. CSDs can play a role—e.g. in validating green asset credentials, reporting sustainability metrics, or embedding ESG criteria in post-trade workflows.

Over time, integrating ESG considerations will become a differentiator in market credibility and institutional alignment.

Conclusion: The Role of CSDs as Ecosystem Catalysts

Looking ahead to 2030: imagine a regional corridor where a farmer in Central Asia receives instant cross-border credit, routed through interoperable CSDs, automated tax reconciliation, and identity validation—all settled in real time with digital assets.

That vision isn’t a replacement of central infrastructure—it depends on it. CSDs remain the trust anchors on which ecosystems can multiply value. But to realize that future, they must lead with interoperability, judicious innovation, resilience, and governance.

The shift ahead is less about new rails, and more about making existing ones smarter, open, and robust.

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