OPEN SOURCE
He says : “ Many traditional financial institutions are either still afraid to use open-source because they are still close-guarding their secrets , or – if they are using open-source – they are doing so in a very introverted way , consuming the technology but not contributing to the open source , blockchainpowered network .
“ As such , the main topic of consideration today is collaboration , and the need to come together to build data transparently and then for the industry to standardise these practices ,” Howard adds .
As not every financial institution leverages open-source software , and perhaps those that do are not open about their use of it , the first step to truly leverage the power of open-source technology is understanding the need to collaborate , with banks coming together to build data .
There are some examples already of open-source collaboration across banking organisations , but it arguably does not happen enough , and , where it does , it is the neobanks and digital players that lead the charge .
As Howard continues : “ We ’ re on the precipice , I think , of increased collaboration in open-source , because challengers like Monzo , Starling and Revolut which are techfocused and transparent are driving the need for change . So , for legacy banks , collaboration on open-source technologies is the first step .”
“ Many of the largest banks , particularly retail banks , want to have full control of their technology ”
KEITH BERGELT CEO , OPEN INVENTION NETWORK
And , according to Ann Schlemmer , CEO at Percona , the first step for banks to start collaborating on open source is to first educate them on the value of doing so .
“ The main barrier is education , particularly for those institutions that are comfortable using closed-source software . Some have a perception that open source software is not as secure , which has been proven to be false ,” Schlemmer says .
“ If software is out in the open , yes , hackers with bad intentions can see it , but accessing that data is harder than in the case of a closed-source platform which relies solely on the proprietor to make any fixes .
“ Remember too , that if the software is open there are many white hat hackers who can see if there are any security flaws in the platform and provide fixes much more quickly .” fintechmagazine . com 99