Value of Open Source Software and Standards for Buy-Sides Expands

NEW YORK, NY – May 11, 2023 – The Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), the financial services umbrella of the Linux Foundation, today announces the addition of Fidelity Investments (Fidelity) as its newest buy-side member joining the foundation’s growing community of leading asset managers, hedge funds, and financial services firms. Fidelity’s membership represents a continued recognition of the value in open source standards, projects, and initiatives for the entire financial services ecosystem. 

Following the memberships of Wellington Management and Point72, FINOS’ community has seen an increase in representation from buy-side firms, as a strong recognition of the value of FINOS open projects in cross-constituency industry-wide collaboration. 

“The growing commitment from institutions, such as Fidelity, to the acceleration of open source adoption marks another key milestone for the FINOS community”, said Gabriele Columbro, Executive Director of FINOS and General Manager of The Linux Foundation Europe. “We have seen a significant draw in interest from buy-side firms in the last year on projects such as FDC3, which has subsequently led to further engagement from the sell-side to collaborate through open source. We look forward to growing foundational open source standards and principles across the industry, and establishing open source as a key component across all facets of the financial services industry.”

The value for buy-side firms in participating in industry-wide, open collaboration stems not only from infrastructure mutualization and a connected cloud journey, but also from core open source standards like FDC3 and the Common Domain Model (CDM) that drive cross-industry interoperability.

“Open source software development and a culture of continuous learning are key pillars in enabling the delivery of secure, stable, and scalable solutions in a rapidly changing environment,” stated Joe Frazier, Head of Cloud and Platform Engineering at Fidelity Investments. “We are thrilled to join the Fintech Open Source Foundation and actively contribute to and collaborate with the community on new and existing projects that will safely and securely accelerate the delivery of software applications across financial services.”

The continued growth of organizations throughout the industry engaging in open source software (OSS), both in FINOS and upstream projects in the Linux Foundation, speaks to the widespread development of talent and designated open source leadership - an essential component in establishing concrete and tangible value across the industry through open source. 

Kim Prado, Chair of the FINOS Governing Board and CIO, US Capital Markets, I&CB and Office of the COO at BMO, remarked, "We're thrilled to have Fidelity Investments join the FINOS community as the latest buy-side member. Their dedication to open source adoption and cooperative efforts bolsters our objective of promoting innovation and compatibility within the financial services arena. Fidelity's knowledge and perspective will be crucial as we continue to build an open source backbone connecting top-tier asset managers, hedge funds, and financial services companies. Together, we will champion open standards, projects, and initiatives that deliver an unprecedented level of cross-industry interoperability."

Hear from Fidelity and others furthering open source innovation at Open Source Summit North America from May 10 through 12.

To learn more about joining FINOS as a member, visit the Membership Benefits page. Are you using FDC3? Add your implementation to the FDC3 Community page.  

Join the FINOS team in London at its upcoming Open House & Regtech Global Showcase (open to the public) on June 14 and Member Meeting (member only) on June 15. Mark your calendar and register now for FINOS’ Open Source in Finance Forum (OSFF) in New York on November 1.

About FINOS

FINOS (The Fintech Open Source Foundation) is a nonprofit whose mission is to foster adoption of open source, open standards and collaborative software development practices in financial services. It is the center for open source developers and the financial services industry to build new technology projects that have a lasting impact on business operations. As a regulatory compliant platform, the foundation enables developers from these competing organizations to collaborate on projects with a strong propensity for mutualization. It has enabled codebase contributions from both the buy- and sell-side firms and counts over 50 major financial institutions, fintechs and technology consultancies as part of its membership. FINOS is also part of the Linux Foundation, the largest shared technology organization in the world. Get involved and join FINOS as a Member. To stay up to date on FINOS news, events, podcasts, blogs, and more, sign up here.

About Fidelity Investments

Fidelity’s mission is to strengthen the financial well-being of our customers and deliver better outcomes for the clients and businesses we serve. With assets under administration of $10.3 trillion, including discretionary assets of $3.9 trillion as of December 31, 2022, we focus on meeting the unique needs of a diverse set of customers. Privately held for over 75 years, Fidelity employs nearly 67,000 associates who are focused on the long-term success of our customers. For more information about Fidelity Investments, visit https://www.fidelity.com/about-fidelity/our-company.

Media Contact:

Catharine Rybeck 

Caliber Corporate Advisers 

catharine@calibercorporateadvisers.com