Berliner Boersenzeitung - FINOS Welcomes New Governing Board Leadership and Global Industry Members to Accelerate Innovation Through Open Collaborations on Cloud Compliance, AI Governance, and Industry Interoperability

NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 27, 2025 / The Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), the financial services umbrella of the Linux Foundation, today announced the appointment of Bhupesh Vora (RBC Capital Markets) as Chair and Sitija Sarkar (BlackRock) as Vice Chair of the FINOS Governing Board. This is alongside the addition of new members from across the industry - spanning global banks, system integrators, technology providers, fintech innovators, and infrastructure specialists - each bringing unique perspectives and expertise to advance open source adoption in financial services. These developments signal FINOS' deepening alignment with top-tier global financial institutions and the broader financial services ecosystem, and reflect the accelerating pace at which open source is becoming foundational to how the industry functions, innovates, and manages risk.

"As we enter this next chapter, we aim to embed open source into the core operating fabric of global finance-not just as a technology strategy, but as a business imperative," said Bhupesh Vora, Chair of the FINOS Governing Board and Head of Quantitative & Technology Services Europe, RBC Capital Markets. "Our five-year vision is ambitious but actionable: by 2030, FINOS technologies and standards will be essential components of the industry's core platforms, workflows, and regulatory frameworks."

FINOS' new strategic focus, outlined in a Chairman's Letter from Bhupesh Vora, reflects the shift from the now largely achieved "open source readiness" of the financial services industry to delivering measurable return on investment (ROI) through open source. This will involve:

• Expanding Cross-Industry Collaboration: FINOS open collaborations to deliver value across the full financial ecosystem - from sell-side, buy-side, clearinghouses, and exchanges to regulators, cloud providers, and fintech innovators - to the business through production-ready projects like FDC3 and the Common Domain Model and initiatives at the forefront of innovation in areas like open source AI.

• An Open Source AI-Powered Industry: Enabling financial services to accelerate adoption of AI ROI through the FINOS AI Governance Framework and the Common Controls for AI Services (CC4AI), and by hosting open source AI collaborations on precompetitive use cases, benefitting the whole industry.

• Addressing tech risk through Open Source: Driving secure and interoperable cloud adoption through the Common Cloud Controls initiative, developed in early, "shift-left" collaboration between cloud service providers and banks to embed compliance, security, and interoperability from the outset.

• Open Standards for Business Efficiency: Expanding adoption of open standards like FDC3 and CDM to reduce time to market, streamline workflows, and enable interoperability - while also supporting industry priorities such as physical risk management and sustainability-aligned investing.

These pillars form the foundation for FINOS' commitment to supporting secure, compliant, and impactful open source technology solutions throughout financial services.

"Open source is fundamental to financial services," added Sitija Sarkar, Vice Chair of the FINOS Governing Board and Technical Fellow & Managing Director at BlackRock. "Across financial services, we are seeing the potential of open standards, like FDC3, and the broader applicability for such standards, especially as it relates to buy-side. These opportunities can provide significant business value that extend beyond FDC3. I'm excited to support FINOS in scaling that value."

In addition to new leadership roles, FINOS is also welcoming two new Governing Board Gold Representatives: Johnna Powell, Managing Director and Head of Technology, Research and Innovation at The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), and Dietmar Fauser, Chief Information Officer at Symphony, reinforcing the board's expertise and strategic direction.

"DTCC has long recognized the power of open source to drive industry-wide efficiencies and innovation," said Johnna Powell. "By joining the FINOS Governing Board, I look forward to working with peers to advance standards and solutions that will benefit the entire financial ecosystem."

"At Symphony, we contribute to open source as a fundamental part of promoting modern and shared solutions, especially in secure, seamless, and scalable communication and workflow solutions across financial services," said Dietmar Fauser. "I'm excited to contribute to FINOS' mission and help shape the frameworks and tools that will define the next decade of financial technology."

A Broader Coalition: Strategic Members Join FINOS

With open source gaining ground as the infrastructure layer of modern finance, new members are joining FINOS to solve real-world challenges through open collaboration: from accelerating transformation at scale and driving digital modernization, to building trusted digital asset infrastructure, advancing cloud interoperability, and ensuring software compliance across increasingly complex supply chains. FINOS continues to attract a broad spectrum of organizations-from banks and buy-side firms to infrastructure providers and regulatory advisors - as is reflected in this latest wave of new members:

Accenture

As a global leader in financial services consulting and reinvention, Accenture's involvement is expected to drive open source adoption at scale across client institutions.

Michael Abbott, Accenture's Banking & Capital Markets industry group lead, said: "Accenture is proud to join the Fintech Open Source Foundation. We believe that open source is a key foundation of the banking infrastructure that helps drive innovation, reduce costs, and enhance cybersecurity. FINOS' mission of encouraging members to share common technologies across banks is a major catalyst for the future of banking."

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

As one of the largest banks in the Asia-Pacific region, CBA's engagement with FINOS signals increasing global interest in collaborative standards, secure cloud adoption, and industry-wide innovation.

"Open source is a vital part of how we accelerate transformation at scale, and the success of the modern AI powered cyber, data, engineering, and digital infrastructure. Through FINOS, we see an opportunity to contribute to shared industry solutions that enhance interoperability and resilience in finance" - Brendan Hopper, GM CIO Technology Distinguished Engineer at Commonwealth Bank of Australia

FossID

Specializing in open source license compliance and software supply chain integrity, FossID brings essential expertise to the foundation.

"Since our inception, FossID has been committed to fostering open source adoption. Joining FINOS allows us to contribute to an ecosystem where compliance, security, and transparency are not just goals-they're built-in."- Stuart Dross, CEO, FossID.

EQTY Lab

EQTY Lab brings deep expertise in creating new layers of trust, transparency, and collaboration around AI data, models, and agents, helping financial institutions confidently adopt and scale responsible AI solutions.

"At EQTY Lab, we are committed to building trust and transparency into the rapidly evolving world of AI," said Jonathan Dotan, Founder at EQTY Lab. "By joining FINOS, we can collaborate with global peers to create open, verifiable frameworks for AI data, models, and agents - enabling compliant and secure innovation that meets the complex needs of the financial services industry."

Hitachi

Hitachi's membership supports Japan's financial sector as it modernizes through digital and open cloud strategies.

"As a member of FINOS, Hitachi will share regulatory best practices of security with the Japanese financial sector, and we are willing to contribute to FINOS projects by applying insights of authentication and authorization from our work on the CNCF Keycloak project." Yuichi Nakamura, Head of OSPO, Hitachi

Tetrate

Tetrate brings deep expertise in securing complex service mesh architectures and is actively engaged in FINOS' Common Cloud Controls initiative and AI Governance work.

"At Tetrate, we're excited to bring our deep expertise in Envoy and securing microservices using NIST standards to the collaborative development of AI controls that address the complex regulatory and operational demands of the financial sector." - David Wang, Head of Products, Tetrate

Tokenovate

Tokenovate is focused on the evolution of smart contracts and digital asset infrastructure. Their interest in FINOS initiatives like CDM reflects the importance of shared pre-trade and post-trade infrastructure.

"At Tokenovate, open standards and collaboration are key to our mission," said Richard Baker, Founder and CEO. "As one of the leading implementers of the Common Domain Model, we're proud to support its adoption and evolution, particularly in tokenised assets through our work with FINOS. It's exciting to contribute to shaping the future of financial technology alongside such a vibrant community."

Together, these new members underscore how open source is now a strategic driver across financial services - from shaping regulatory transformation and enabling industry-wide interoperability, to strengthening operational resilience and fostering innovation at scale.

These pillars directly address the industry's most urgent challenges and position FINOS as the trusted home for building safe, scalable, and high-impact open source solutions in financial services that consistently deliver business and technology ROI to all industry participants.

About FINOS

FINOS (The Fintech Open Source Foundation) is a nonprofit whose mission is to foster the adoption of open source software, standards, and collaborative development practices in financial services. As part of the Linux Foundation, FINOS provides a regulatory-compliant platform for developers from competing organizations to collaborate on innovative projects that transform business operations. With over 100 members spanning major financial institutions, fintechs, and technology consultancies, FINOS is at the forefront of driving open source innovation in finance. Get involved and join FINOS as a Member. To stay up to date on FINOS news, events, podcasts, blogs, and more, sign up here.

Learn more at www.finos.org.

Media Contact:
Patrick Doherty
Head of Corporate Communications, FINOS
[email protected]
+1 (206) 245-8574

SOURCE: FINOS / The Linux Foundation

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

(L.Kaufmann--BBZ)