Emerging Technologies SIG (Zenith) Proposal Meeting on 3/29

Posted on March 17, 2023 by Peter Smulovics

Without further ado, I am happy to announce, that based on the proceedings on top of the Why focus on Emerging Technologies in Financial companies post, and thanks to FINOS management, namely Gabriele Columbro (Executive Director of FINOS) and Maurizio Pillitu (CTO at FINOS), we are ready to have a ‘proposal’ kickoff meeting for the Emerging Technologies SIG. It will provide a forum for FINOS members and the wider fintech community to discuss, collaborate on, and develop new and innovative solutions that can help drive the financial industry forward.

The SIG, if approved, would host regular meetings, events, webinars, workshops and other activities to help members stay up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in emerging technologies. We do encourage all FINOS members who are interested in emerging technologies to join our kickoff session below and become part of this exciting new community. Together, we can help to drive innovation and advance the fintech industry in fresh and exciting ways!

Proposal to create a FINOS Emerging Technologies Special Interest Group

Proposing the creation of a FINOS Emerging Technologies Special Interest Group (Zenith). The purpose of the Zenith SIG would be to explore and promote the adoption of new and innovative technologies in the financial services industry. The proposed goals of the SIG are to:

identify and evaluate emerging technologies that have potential to transform the sector
to share best practices, use cases, and insights for the broader community in the form of webinars, podcasts, and articles.

To gather interest and commitment, FINOS is organizing an initial exploratory meeting – which will also help to prepare for the SIG approval submission (to FINOS Board of Directors) – on Wednesday 29th of March at 10:00 US/Eastern. Agendas and conference info can be found in the issues.

License

Distributed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

Details of the upcoming meeting:

Google Calendar Link

Date: March 29th, 2023, at 10am EST / 3pm GMT

Location: Zoom

Agenda:

Convene & roll call (5mins)
Display FINOS Antitrust Policy summary slide
Review Meeting Notices
Presenting SIG draft charta
Acceptance / reviewing of charta
AOB, Q&A & Adjourn (5mins)

Why to open our wallets?

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Peter Smulovics

As technology continues to evolve, the concept of money is also changing. Gone are the days when people would carry physical cash and coins in their wallets. Instead, digital wallets are becoming increasingly popular. These wallets store digital currency, allowing individuals to make purchases and transfer funds electronically. However, many digital wallets are proprietary, meaning that they are owned and operated by private companies. This is where the world needs an open-source digital wallet.

An open-source digital wallet is a wallet that is freely available to anyone to use and modify. It is developed through a collaborative effort, with a community of developers contributing to its creation and maintenance. Open-source wallets operate on an open network, which means that anyone can participate and contribute. This is in contrast to proprietary wallets, which are closed systems, controlled by a single company.

There are several reasons why the world needs an open-source digital wallet. Firstly, open-source wallets promote transparency. With proprietary wallets, users have little visibility into how their data is being used. This lack of transparency can lead to concerns over data privacy and security. However, with an open-source wallet, users can examine the code, ensuring that their data is being stored and used ethically.

Secondly, open-source wallets promote innovation. With a community of developers working on the same project, new features can be added quickly, and bugs can be identified and fixed promptly. This creates a more robust and flexible product, allowing users to customize their wallet to suit their needs. This promotes innovation and competition, as new ideas can be tested and improved upon.

Thirdly, open-source wallets promote interoperability. With proprietary wallets, users are often restricted to a specific platform or network. This can create barriers for users who want to transfer funds or use their wallet with other services. However, with an open-source wallet, users have the flexibility to connect with different networks and services, creating a more seamless user experience.

Lastly, open-source wallets promote inclusivity. With proprietary wallets, users often need to meet certain requirements to access the service. This can exclude individuals who do not have a particular bank account or mobile phone. However, with an open-source wallet, anyone with internet access can participate, promoting financial inclusion and accessibility.

In conclusion, the world needs an open-source digital wallet. Open-source wallets promote transparency, innovation, interoperability, and inclusivity, creating a more robust and flexible product. As technology continues to evolve, an open-source wallet is crucial to promote transparency and innovation, ensuring that digital currency is used ethically and securely.

For further details, do check out an article on the same topic at FINOS.

Why focus on Emerging Technologies in Financial companies

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Peter Smulovics

I’ll ask for your help, reader. I submitted an idea for a Special Interest Group in FINOS, which is to focus on Emerging Technologies – and I am looking for (special) interest in it 🙂

So, if you can, do comment, like, share, etc. the Special Interest Group – Emerging Technologies link 🙂

But you might ask – what benefits of using emerging technologies like spatial computing, quantum, etc. does have for financial companies? Believe or not, these techs do have the potential to bring significant benefits to financial companies. Like:

Spatial computing, which involves the integration of virtual and augmented reality into everyday computing, can be used for financial companies to create immersive and interactive experiences for customers. For example, spatial computing can be used to create virtual branches, enabling customers to interact with banking services in a more natural and intuitive way.
Quantum computing has the potential to revolutionize the financial industry by providing much faster and more efficient ways to process complex financial data. Quantum computing can be used for financial companies to perform complex calculations, such as risk analysis, portfolio optimization, and fraud detection, much faster than traditional computers. Additionally, quantum computing can be used for secure communication and data encryption, which is important for financial companies in terms of security.

There are many other technologies that can be used, either specifically at a financial company, or do have benefits for the company through other means:

Technology	description	applications
Artificial Intelligence	The development of systems that can perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and perception.	Predictive analytics, fraud detection, customer service automation.
Blockchain	A decentralized and distributed digital ledger used to record transactions across a network of computers.	Secure financial transactions, digital identity verification, supply chain management.
Internet of Things (IoT)	The interconnectedness of everyday devices, such as smartphones, appliances, and vehicles, through the internet.	Smart cities, predictive maintenance, energy management.
Robotics and Robotics Process Automation (RPA)	The use of machines to perform tasks that would normally require human intervention.	Automation of repetitive tasks, precision manufacturing, healthcare. Automation of back-office tasks, process optimization, cost reduction.
Spatial Computing, also above	The use of computer-generated simulations to create immersive or interactive experiences.	Training, simulation, entertainment, education.
Quantum Computing, also above	A type of computing that uses quantum-mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement, to perform operations on data.	Drug discovery, optimization, cryptography.
Neural Links	The implantation of electronic devices into the human brain, to enhance cognitive abilities or to control prosthetic limbs.	Medical treatment, brain-computer interfaces, cognitive enhancement.
Space Technologies	Advancements in satellite, rocket and space exploration technologies.	Earth observation, telecommunications, scientific research, space tourism.
4D Printing	3D printing with the added dimension of time, allowing the printed objects to change shape or properties over time.	Smart materials, adaptive structures, self-assembling structures
Biotechnology	The use of living organisms, cells or their derivatives to create products and technologies.	Medical treatments, crop improvement, biofuels, biosensors.
5 & 6G	The fifth / sixth generation of mobile networks, characterized by higher speeds, lower latency, and greater capacity for connected devices.	Enhanced mobile broadband, massive internet of things, critical communication.
Graphene	A single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, it is a strong, light and highly conductive material.	Energy storage, electronics, composites, sensors, etc
Natural Language Processing (NLP)	The ability of computers to understand and process human language.	Chatbot customer service, sentiment analysis, document analysis
Advanced Data Analytics	Combination of data visualization, statistical analysis, machine learning and other techniques to extract insights from data.	Risk management, fraud detection, customer behavior analysis.
Cloud Computing	The delivery of computing services, including storage, processing and software, over the internet.	Scalability, cost savings, data security, and business continuity.

Note that this is not a comprehensive list and there are many other emerging technologies that have the potential to disrupt various industries. The specific applications may vary depending on the particular technology and industry. And yes, many of these are now well established technologies – but if I give you this list a decade or two ago, you would not say many of them would ever become reality.

Nevertheless, the way I see this, that these technologies have the potential to help financial companies to increase efficiency, improve customer experiences, and enhance security, as well as providing opportunities for new revenue streams or business models – hence I am imagining that for finding the open standards, for finding the common ground, to understand the regulatory and other implications, there is a clear benefit to have the Special Interest Group mentioned at the beginning.

To help starting up the group, I wrote a set of ‘primers’ which can help the initial phase of the group:

Morgan Stanley at the Open Source in Finance Forum NY’22

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Peter Smulovics

As you saw in the previous post, Open Source in Finance Forum NY’22 | Dotneteers.net, I was at the Open Source Finance Forum, representing the Open Source Readiness and leading the discussion on the Open Source Program Office’s private session. But I wasn’t the only person present at the event from Morgan Stanley – we have had a wide range of presence from our side this time:

My manager, Dov Katz, was part of the opening Keynote:

Open Source in Finance Forum – Opening Remarks – Gabriele Columbro, with Dov Katz & Rob Moffatt

My coworkers, Stephen Goldbaum and Rita Chaturvedi leading multiple discussions at the event:

The Current State of DEI and Path Forward – Jevon Beckles, Chitra Hota, Nick Fuller, Rita Chaturvedi

Exploring Open Reg Tech with the LCR – Stephen Goldbaum

Modernize Regulatory Reporting: Get Ready for T+1 Settlement

Morphir Integration with Scala – Damian Reeves, Stephen Goldbaum

So, I am looking forward to 2023’s OSFF events, hopefully being able to present once again on them with some fun topics 🙂

Another Session on “Why Going Open Source?” – Peter Smulovics, Morgan Stanley

Posted on February 11, 2022 by Peter Smulovics

Back in November, I had the luck and opportunity to get back to some level of normalcy for just a day – I got invited to present at Linux Foundation’s Open Source Strategy Forum about, wait for it, Open Source. What was it about? Here is the blurb:

It is always appropriate to challenge the need for a project to be open source, given the lack of foreknowledge of anyone else having a desire to use a platform versus the other possible options or their own proprietary one. While companies have the desire and the capability to support this if it comes to be, it’s not the primary motivation. With a foundational architectural aspiration of a pluggable platform, it’s important for it to be possible to selectively choose components from open source and if needed, from commercial vendors that make sense given your requirements. There is no reason for a company to own every line of code or to find something available that tries to meet all the needs. Vendors will always yearn to get their foot in the door and being open source accelerates and simplifies partnerships through increased visibility and collaboration without the red/yellow tape or proprietary integrations or NDAs. We have already seen this model work successfully with our projects as ongoing collaborative efforts with vendors to use and extend simply for their own (sales) demos to others.

So, without further ado, here is the recording:

Another Session on “Why Going Open Source?” – Peter Smulovics, Morgan Stanley

The success of this presentation lead to another small success – more about that later on 🙂