Open platforms not a threat but an opportunity

Here at the Symphony Software Foundation, we agree that open platforms are an enabler of collaboration across the industry - within and between: firms; established fintechs; startups; and non-finserv technology vendors.

…BUT…

Open APIs are only the first baby step on the open journey - in particular they only enable a restricted form of collaboration; one where the API provider effectively dictates a set of capabilities and API consumers are limited to passive consumption of those capabilities. Given that the API consumer is closest to the end user and use cases, it behooves API providers to be agile and allow those consumers to help shape those capabilities. But how to enable that deeper form of collaboration?

For decades the wider technology industry has worked to eliminate this asymmetry; initially via open standards and more recently via open source. The intersection of open standards and open source has proven to be where consequential collaboration occurs - obvious examples include Linux, both the kernel and user space Unix interfaces, and the internet, both the software infrastructure and protocols. Without both open source and open standards, neither of these technologies would have attracted such an astonishingly broad set of collaborators, and thereby been as successful as they have been. 

The financial services industry has been slow to adopt openness as the fundamental enabler of substantive collaboration. While we’re happy to see limited forms of openness such as open platforms and open APIs becoming better accepted in the industry, we’re far more excited at the opportunities offered by a comprehensive adoption of openness in all its forms.

I can't agree more - and opening our core financial systems & software via REST APIs to the broader financial eco-system of developers is a first bold step towards that vision - Thanks for your great comment!