Recently, it was my pleasure to participate in FusionONE, Finastra’s first ever two-day developer conference at London’s Tobacco Dock. The event brought together business leaders and developers, and showcased Finastra’s open development platform, FusionFabric.cloud, as well as the 61 new APIs now accessible via the platform. Hundreds of developers packed into various sessions over the course of two days, with hundreds more following the action online via a livestream, all of which can now be viewed at our interactive FusionONE Virtual DevCon.

Exciting developer audiences

The first day of the conference dived into the power of collaborating to innovate, demonstrating what can be achieved through strategic partnerships in an open cloud-based environment. A favourite with developers, Scott Guthrie, EVP of Cloud and Enterprise, Microsoft, delivered the day one keynote. Scott highlighted the importance of the collaboration between our two firms in fuelling digital transformation in financial services.

Microsoft Azure underpins FusionFabric.cloud, providing those who sign up to the platform with access to the latest tools and technologies. When combined with the open APIs accessible through the platform, the number of new applications waiting to be created is practically limitless: an exciting prospect for any developer.

Day two focused on developer tools and APIs, and how they could be used to create applications – sometimes in a matter of minutes. A few brave souls demonstrated how to do this a number of times in front of the live audience.

New talent shines at Hackathon

It was heartening to feel the excitement around the creative potential unlocked by the platform. Nothing better demonstrates this potential than the apps built during the FusionONE Hackathon. Held the weekend before the conference, we invited teams from banks, Fintechs, integrators and independent developers to create applications grounded in Open Banking. Using FusionFabric.cloud’s rapid development environment and integrated API management tools, teams were able to create solutions that ranged from data visualization to sustainable finance apps.

I was lucky enough to co-host the final round of judging, in which four teams presented to a live audience and a panel of three judges, including Finastra’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, Eli Rosner; Sarah Hazzledane, Managing Director, Accenture; and Mark Smith, Microsoft Solutions Lead, Microsoft UK.

The winning team included 15-year-old Scott Hiett, who beat experienced app developers more than twice his age with an AI-based holiday saving app. Tapping into the FX market, as well as AI for sentiment analysis of social data, the team’s app - HYBER - triggers FX trades at optimum points, with the goal of maximizing value and growing the user’s spending pot in advance of their holiday.

Using FusionFabric.cloud and open APIs, teams were able to access Finastra’s core technologies to create their apps. This was as good a demonstration as any of the power of collaboration. Of course, the apps created are all built, run, and demonstrated in a risk-free environment which, as Scott noted, allows users to “try things out” – a factor that perfectly illustrates the creative freedom enabled by cloud-based platforms.

The future of financial services is undoubtedly open. As the industry begins to adapt to this inevitability, the adoption of technologies that facilitate collaboration will continue, allowing organisations to innovate from the “outside-in”.

Virtual DevCon now open to view

It is an exciting time for the industry. Building on this momentum, we created the FusionONE Virtual DevCon for anyone who was not able to attend.

Right now, all you need to do is register HERE, and you will gain access to every session. From deep dives into Finastra’s APIs which provide use cases and Hello World examples of applications, to a step-by-step peek at the application lifecycle made possible by FusionFabric.cloud.

Don’t just take my word for it. Watch Scott Guthrie’s keynote to find out more about Microsoft Azure’s role in the platform, see the hackathon teams demonstrate their solutions, and watch applications go from conception to production in a matter of minutes. It’s all waiting for you – just sign up and enjoy the virtual experience.