The Financial Interop Standard

Nick Kolba
Chair, FDC3 Program, FINOS
Chief Product Officer, OpenFin

Today marks the official release of the 1.0 version of the FDC3 standards for desktop interoperability in finance. OpenFin started this journey with a slide deck and about a dozen representatives in October 2017 and quickly garnered interest from a large number of firms who strongly identified with our mission. Six months after the initial launch, with ever increasing level of interest in the project, we contributed FDC3 to FINOS where the program has become the model for successful industry collaboration. To have come so far, so fast, speaks volumes about not just how urgent the issues of interoperability are in finance and how proprietary solutions have fallen short, but also the hard work, dedication, and thoughtfulness of the individuals and organizations that have come together to make FDC3 possible.

The FDC3 initiative is a critical component of our strategy at OpenFin as we work to unify applications across the industry. While OpenFin OS has provided a desktop message bus and RPC capabilities for years, as an industry we have lacked a common language for apps to speak across the bus. As a result, interoperability has been too expensive to do at scale. That all changes now with the release of FDC3 1.0. We can now create interoperability at scale with nearly zero cost saving the financial services industry millions of dollars and enabling a generational shift on the financial desktop

We want to take this opportunity to thank FINOS which has provided substantial operational support to FDC3 as well as ensuring its independent and neutral positioning in the industry — crucial status for a standards body to maintain. With the 1.0 standards live, there are 10 firms actively contributing to the process and a bench of more than 100 individuals from over 50 firms across the industry registered with and following the FDC3 group. Participation and interest is coming from across the industry, with sell side, buy side, data and tech vendors, and development consultants all represented.

So what’s next? For OpenFin, 2019 will be about implementing FDC3 standards and working with our partners across the industry to take desktop workflow to the next level. Our vision for FDC3 from the beginning has been to bring the sort of intuitive workflow we enjoy everyday on our consumer mobile devices to the financial desktop. With OpenFin now widely accepted as the OS of finance and already deployed at 1500 banks and buy-side firms, and FDC3 1.0 standards ratified and ready to go, we are one giant step closer to making that vision a reality.