New major players in the FINOS alliance
The Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS) welcomes a roster of new members, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), and Intel—marking an expansion of the alliance’s influence and impact in the financial technology sector.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS): As a leader in cloud computing, AWS brings broad expertise and resources key for advancing open-source initiatives in finance—signaling a strong commitment to collaborative innovation.
- Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC): DTCC, a key player in the financial market infrastructure, adds its substantial industry experience and infrastructure to the mix, growing the foundation’s ability to address complex financial technology challenges.
- Intel: With deep knowledge in semiconductors and computing technologies, Intel’s participation will drive forward the development of high-performance and secure financial solutions.
These new members are joining an already strong lineup, strengthening FINOS’s capacity to boost collaboration for advancing technology standards in financial and fintech services.
AWS joins the open-source drive with FINOS
Amazon Web Services (AWS) joining the Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS) is a major development. AWS, renowned for its scalable cloud computing services, becomes part of an influential group aiming to transform financial services through open-source technologies.
AWS’s participation aligns with its strategic goals of promoting open standards and collaborative development—which is expected to accelerate the adoption of cloud-based solutions in the financial industry, leveraging AWS’s extensive infrastructure and innovation capabilities.
AWS’s cloud expertise will be key in advancing projects within FINOS, particularly those requiring comprehensive and scalable computing resources.
Other notable new members include DTCC, a core component of the financial market infrastructure, and Intel, a leader in semiconductor technology—broadening the scope of FINOS’s initiatives, providing diverse perspectives and capabilities to tackle the industry’s technological challenges.
Who’s who in the existing FINOS membership
The existing membership of FINOS is made up of a robust and diverse support group from both financial services and technology sectors. Key members include:
- Microsoft: Known for its extensive suite of enterprise software and cloud services, Microsoft contributes greatly to the development and adoption of open-source financial technologies.
- Google Cloud: Google Cloud’s advanced infrastructure and machine learning capabilities provide a strong foundation for innovative financial solutions.
- Capital One, Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley: These financial giants bring deep industry knowledge and practical insights into the needs and challenges of modern financial services.
- Red Hat: As a leader in open-source software solutions, Red Hat supports the development of secure, scalable, and interoperable financial technologies.
- Databricks and CloudBees: These technology providers improve FINOS’s ability to deliver cutting-edge data analytics and continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) solutions.
How Linux Foundation and FinOps Foundation drive financial innovation
The Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS) operates under the larger umbrella of the Linux Foundation, a prominent organization supporting the growth and adoption of open-source software across industries.
- FINOS’s role: As part of the Linux Foundation, FINOS benefits from a wealth of open-source expertise and resources, facilitating the development of financial technology standards.
- FinOps foundation: Closely linked with FINOS, the FinOps Foundation focuses on financial operations and cloud financial management. Members include AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud, highlighting how cloud providers are key players in modern financial management.
- FOCUS framework: On June 20, the FinOps Foundation released version 1.0 of the FinOps Open Cost and Usage Specification (FOCUS) framework, a major milestone in standardizing cost and usage metrics across cloud services.
Pioneering compliance and interoperability in Finance
FINOS spearheads several key initiatives aimed at addressing compliance and interoperability challenges in financial services:
- Common cloud controls: This project focuses on creating standardized compliance controls across cloud services, simplifying regulatory adherence for financial institutions.
- FDC3: The Financial Desktop Connectivity and Collaboration Consortium (FDC3) aims to standardize desktop application interoperability, facilitating communication and data exchange across different software platforms.
- AI governance working group: Launched in May, this working group addresses the governance and ethical considerations of artificial intelligence in financial services, promoting responsible and transparent AI use.
Embracing digital-first strategies in finance
Financial companies are embracing digital-first operations to stay competitive in an increasingly technology-driven market. Open source technologies are central in this transformation, driving innovation and helping firms manage technical debt more effectively.
Adopting digital-first strategies, financial institutions can leverage the flexibility and cost-efficiency of open source solutions to streamline operations and deliver superior customer experiences.
A major shift from integrated monolithic systems to composable systems is underway. Composable systems allow financial institutions to build and customize their IT infrastructure using interchangeable, modular components—improving specialization and flexibility, letting firms quickly adapt to changing market conditions and customer needs.
Composable systems hasten the deployment of new services and features, helping companies stay agile and responsive in a competitive market.
How FINOS and industry networks standardize fintech solutions
Organizations like the Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS) and the Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) are impactful players in standardizing fintech solutions and promoting interoperability.
Standardization efforts focus on creating common frameworks and protocols that enable more seamless integration and communication between different financial systems and technologies.
FINOS collaborates with a range of financial institutions and technology providers to develop open standards that support interoperability—helping to reduce the complexity and cost associated with integrating disparate systems, and ultimately fostering a more cohesive and efficient financial technology ecosystem.
Through establishing common standards, FINOS makes sure that fintech solutions can work together seamlessly, providing a more consistent and reliable experience for both businesses and consumers.
BIAN, another major player in this space, works towards defining and implementing standardized banking models and APIs. Their core aim here is to boost collaboration and innovation across the banking industry, ultimately benefiting customers through improved services and improved operational efficiency.
AWS contributions and green initiatives with FINOS
AWS brings high-performance computing to FINOS
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has made a major contribution to the FINOS portfolio with HTC-Grid, a cloud-based open-source high-performance computing (HPC) solution.
HTC-Grid is designed to address the demanding computational needs of the financial services industry, providing scalable and efficient computing resources—further highlighting AWS’s support for the financial sector’s technological advancements and leading the drive toward open-source adoption.
HTC-Grid gives financial institutions the ability to perform complex computations and data analyses at scale, supporting tasks such as risk modeling, fraud detection, and algorithmic trading. Leveraging AWS’s cloud infrastructure, financial firms can achieve higher performance and cost-efficiency, improving both their operational capabilities and competitiveness.
FINOS takes on sustainability with climate initiatives
The Linux Foundation has merged its open-source climate community with the financial services unit of FINOS, broadening the scope of FINOS’s initiatives to include sustainability. This merger integrates current OS-Climate projects into the FINOS portfolio, aligning financial technology development with environmental sustainability goals.
Key OS-Climate projects now under FINOS include:
- Climate data commons platform: Facilitates sharing and analysis of climate-related data, providing financial institutions with valuable insights to assess climate risks and opportunities.
- ESG reporting specifications standard: Establishes common standards for Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting, helping financial firms meet regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations.
- Climate risk and resilience toolkit: Offers tools and resources to assess and manage climate risks, supporting financial institutions in building resilience against environmental impacts.
All-in-all, these initiatives aim to create common technology and standards for ESG reporting in banking and finance, promoting transparency and accountability. Integrating sustainability into financial technology development, FINOS supports the industry’s efforts to address climate change and achieve long-term sustainability goals.
How open source gains strategic value across financial businesses
Open source and open standard projects are gaining recognition for their strategic value across financial institutions, extending beyond technology and data engineering departments—now impacting critical areas of financial business operations, driving innovation, efficiency, and collaboration.
Adopting open-source technologies supports financial institutions in developing flexible, scalable, and cost-effective solutions. Open source develops a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing, so that firms can leverage collective expertise and accelerate development processes—ultimately reducing the time to market for new products and services, and helping financial institutions stay competitive.
To add to this, open standards promote interoperability and integration, letting financial firms create more cohesive and unified ecosystems. This, in turn, boosts operational efficiency and builds up more memorable and impactful customer experiences, providing a valuable competitive edge in a market known to rapidly evolve.
The strategic value of open source extends to areas such as risk management, compliance, and sustainability. Adopting open-source solutions, financial institutions can address regulatory requirements more effectively, manage risks, and integrate sustainability into their operations—pointing out just how important open source is as a strategic asset for driving long-term growth and innovation.
