BMO is to become the first bank to offer CME Group’s tokenised cash solution via Google Cloud’s Universal Ledger.
The development marks a notable step in the financial sector’s shift toward round‑the‑clock settlement, giving institutions the ability to move funds continuously for margin, collateral and trading purposes as global markets increasingly operate beyond traditional banking hours.
“We are excited to work with CME Group and Google Cloud to deliver a truly innovative solution that modernises capital market efficiency as the industry advances toward more continuous trading and settlement, while laying the groundwork for BMO tokenised deposits that support broader real-world payment and treasury use cases,” said Derek Vernon, head of North American Treasury and Payment Solutions at BMO.
Suzanne Sprague, chief operating officer and global head of clearing at CME Group, said the move would help firms meet margin and settlement obligations in real time.
“Working with BMO and Google Cloud to tokenise cash at CME Clearing will allow firms to meet margin requirements and settlement obligations in real-time, freeing up capital that would otherwise need to wait for traditional banking cycles.”
James Tromans, managing director for Web3 and Digital Assets at Google Cloud, said the collaboration demonstrated how the company’s infrastructure could help financial institutions overhaul long‑standing operational constraints.
“By providing an enterprise-ready, easy-to-integrate foundation through Google Cloud Universal Ledger, we are enabling BMO and CME Group to offer unparalleled capital efficiency and are helping to significantly reduce operational friction for global markets.”
Under the plans, BMO’s institutional clients will be able to convert US dollars into tokenised cash for use on CME Group’s permissioned network.
The bank also intends to introduce tokenised deposits, broadening the scope for digital commercial bank money to be used in B2B payments, treasury operations and programmable cash applications.
The initiative promises uninterrupted movement of value, removing the cut‑off times that have long shaped banking operations and allowing institutions to respond to market demands at any hour.
The announcement builds on CME Group and Google Cloud’s earlier work, unveiled in March 2025, to pilot wholesale payments and asset tokenisation using the Universal Ledger, a permissioned distributed system designed to integrate with existing financial infrastructure.
