OpenFuture World is a leading organization at the heart of the open banking revolution, driving forward innovation and collaboration across the global fintech ecosystem. Founded by industry veterans, OpenFuture World has grown into the largest global source of information on progress in open banking and beyond, acting as a hub that highlights important developments and connects key players in this emerging sector.
With a mission to spur open banking innovation and facilitate financial data collaboration among banks, fintechs, and tech companies, OpenFuture World plays a pivotal role in the global banking transformation toward more open, data-driven financial services.
This blog post delves into OpenFuture World’s origin, mission, key activities, partnerships, digital initiatives, and its impact on the open finance and fintech landscape.
Origin and Mission: Building a Hub for Open Banking Innovation
OpenFuture World traces its roots back to 2016, when it began engaging the nascent open banking community under the “Finance Edge” brand. The founders – notably Marie Walker and Nick Cabrera – recognized the need for a global platform to track and accelerate progress in open banking and open finance. Their vision materialized fully in 2020 with the launch of OpenFuture World and its flagship initiatives.
According to Marie Walker, who co-founded the platform, the goal was to answer a common question in the open finance community: who is doing what, and where? “This directory is our answer to that need, helping companies connect and building awareness of what they have to offer,” Walker explained when unveiling OpenFuture World’s new global directory.
From the outset, the organization’s mission has been clear: bring together the best people and ideas across open banking to share what’s worth paying attention to and spotlight who’s who in the industry.
The mission of OpenFuture World is closely aligned with the core principles of open banking. Open banking itself is a system that empowers bank customers to share their financial data with other organizations (such as fintech startups or even competing banks) in a secure and controlled way. By promoting this financial data collaboration, open banking aims to increase customer choice, enhance competition, and fuel the development of innovative financial services.
OpenFuture World was established to champion these ideals on a global scale. It serves as a neutral information hub and community, ensuring that stakeholders around the world can learn about new ideas, emerging players, and best practices in open banking and open finance. In short, the platform’s mission is to accelerate open banking innovation and connect the fintech ecosystem – a mission which has remained its guiding light since its origin.
Leadership and Visionaries Behind OpenFuture World
OpenFuture World’s leadership is composed of seasoned experts who have been instrumental in shaping the open banking narrative. Marie Walker, the co-founder of OpenFuture World, is a prominent figure in the fintech and open data space. She spent years studying and monitoring the progress of open banking and “consented data sharing,” earning recognition as an “open futurist” for her forward-looking perspective.
Walker founded OpenFuture World as a market intelligence platform to fill the information gap in this fast-growing domain. Under her guidance as Head of Content, the platform curates insights and tracks global trends, ensuring that the community remains informed about key developments. Co-founder Nick Cabrera has likewise been a driving force, focusing on community-building and partnerships.
As OpenFuture World’s Head of Partnerships, Cabrera spearheaded efforts to grow the platform’s network and features – “We launched the free directory to help connect people,” he noted, emphasizing the open, inclusive ethos behind their initiatives. Together, Walker and Cabrera’s vision has been to create an inclusive global forum that not only reports on open banking progress but actively shapes it by connecting stakeholders across continents.
The leadership team’s deep industry involvement extends beyond OpenFuture World itself, underscoring their commitment to the broader fintech ecosystem. For instance, Marie Walker’s influence in the open banking arena led to her being appointed as a resident “Open Futurist” at data-sharing technology firm Raidiam in 2023 – a testament to her standing as a thought leader.
Both co-founders are frequently cited in industry discussions and have contributed to publications and events that drive the conversation on open finance. Their combined expertise and passion infuse OpenFuture World with a clear vision: to champion progress in open banking by fostering knowledge-sharing, collaboration, and innovation on a worldwide scale.
Key Initiatives and Digital Platforms
To fulfill its mission, OpenFuture World operates several key initiatives and digital platforms that serve the open banking and fintech community:
- Global Open Banking & Open Finance Directory: Perhaps the most well-known initiative is the OpenFuture World Directory – the first inclusive, global, and easily searchable directory of organizations in the open banking and open finance ecosystem. Launched in September 2020, this free directory was created to help companies and innovators find each other and showcase what they offer. Both regulated and non-regulated entities can be listed in the directory at no charge, ensuring a comprehensive view of the industry landscape. The directory spans banks, fintech startups, API providers, consultancies, regulators, and beyond, covering players from every region. By 2020’s launch, firms like open banking fintech DirectID had already participated in the private beta, affirming the directory’s value in mapping the ecosystem. The OpenFuture World directory continues to grow as a free resource developed by the community, with new features like advanced search functionality and case studies being added over time. In line with the open ethos of the sector, this collaborative approach allows the directory to be a living map of open banking innovation worldwide. Users of the directory can easily discover industry players by category or region, making it a go-to reference for anyone looking to navigate the global fintech ecosystem.
- Daily News and Insights (“Daily Edit”): Another cornerstone of OpenFuture World’s platform is its curated daily news service, known as the “Daily Edit.” This is a daily digest of the most interesting and relevant open banking and fintech news from around the world, coupled with expert insights. OpenFuture World’s team sifts through headlines and articles to highlight what truly matters each day in open banking, open finance, and adjacent sectors. The popularity of this service is evidenced by its reach and content archive. In 2021 alone, the Daily Edit amassed over 5,000 individual news mentions, featuring more than 1,500 organizations across 72 countries. This freely available, searchable archive offers a rich snapshot of the global open finance movement in real time. Industry leaders note that keeping up with the fast pace of open finance can be demanding, and OpenFuture World’s daily updates make that task easier by filtering the signal from the noise. The Daily Edit is widely read by professionals and enthusiasts, and its annual analysis of coverage has yielded Global Rankings that reveal which companies and countries are making the most headlines. For example, OpenFuture World’s 2021 Global Rankings showed companies like Plaid, TrueLayer, Mastercard, Tink, and Finicity topping the list of those most frequently discussed in open banking news globally. In the following year, the platform’s acclaimed Daily Edit tracked over 1,000 organizations across 80 countries, reflecting the growing scale of open finance worldwide. By sharing daily updates on what’s worth paying attention to in open banking, OpenFuture World has become, as one fintech publication described, “the leading global source” for open banking and open finance updates.
- Insights & Analysis Content: Beyond news curation, OpenFuture World also offers deeper insights and educational resources. Its website features articles, interviews, and even presentation materials that highlight progressive work and thinking in open banking. Through expert-contributed articles and analysis pieces, the platform examines trends such as API standards, open banking use cases, regulatory changes, and consumer adoption. These pieces often involve thought leaders from the industry, adding expert perspectives to the mix. By providing a home for such content, OpenFuture World helps disseminate best practices and forward-looking ideas, further positioning itself as a knowledge hub in the fintech community. Moreover, the site’s “Insights & Analysis” section, along with a repository of presentations (for instance, recordings or slides from events and webinars), allows professionals to dive deeper into specialized topics at their own pace. This blend of daily briefings and in-depth analysis ensures that OpenFuture World’s audience – from startup founders and bank executives to developers and regulators – can stay informed both on breaking news and the bigger picture.
Flagship Events and Community Engagement
OpenFuture World not only operates in the digital realm but also actively engages the community through events and networking initiatives. Its flagship conference series, the Open Banking World Congress, has been a cornerstone event for the global open banking community. Organized initially under the Finance Edge banner and now associated with OpenFuture World, this congress brings together industry leaders, fintech innovators, banks, regulators, and tech experts from around the globe.
By May 2020, the fifth Open Banking World Congress was held as a virtual event, and it made history as the world’s largest online open banking gathering to date. According to official figures, the 2020 virtual Congress attracted over 4,500 participants from more than 110 countries worldwide.
This huge turnout underscores OpenFuture World’s ability to convene a truly global audience around open banking and open finance themes. Participants in these events share insights on everything from API standards and fintech partnerships to consumer data rights and open finance extensions, reflecting on both regional developments and worldwide trends.
The Open Banking World Congress (OBWC) has become widely regarded as a premier event in the open banking calendar. It not only features keynote speeches and panel discussions but also provides year-round value through on-demand video content and follow-up reports. OpenFuture World ensures that the conversations started at OBWC continue beyond the conference. In fact, the event series has been described as “leading annual event with all-year-round content”, complemented by the platform’s daily news digest to keep the community engaged continuously.
By hosting this Congress and other forums (such as webinars, roundtables, or partner events), OpenFuture World actively engages with the global financial and tech ecosystem. It creates a space for dialogue between incumbent banks and fintech challengers, between regulators and innovators, aligning with its mission to bring together the best people and ideas.
This emphasis on community engagement is also evident in how OpenFuture World invites collaboration: the Open Future World Engage initiatives encourage professionals to get involved, whether by contributing content, sharing success stories, or participating in discussions and social media communities. In essence, through its events and community activities, OpenFuture World functions as a catalyst for networking and knowledge exchange, strengthening the fintech ecosystem at a global level.
Partnerships and Industry Collaboration
From its inception, OpenFuture World has embraced partnerships as a strategy to enhance its offerings and amplify its impact. In line with the open, collaborative spirit of open banking, the organization has worked “with the support of other organisations involved in the ecosystem” to build its platforms. A notable example is the strategic partnership with Findexable, a real-time ranking and analytics platform for fintech ecosystems.
By partnering with Findexable, OpenFuture World’s directory and content gained access to richer data and insights, aligning with Findexable’s mission to map fintech innovation globally and break down geographical barriers to success. “Through the Global Fintech Index, our mission is to sort and benchmark fintech innovation wherever it’s found… The Open Future World directory is an important step to driving awareness of the breadth of open finance adoption,” said Simon Hardie, CEO of Findexable, highlighting the shared vision behind the partnership.
This collaboration exemplifies how OpenFuture World contributes to financial data collaboration in practice: by integrating data from a fintech index, it provides the community with a more comprehensive view of open banking developments across markets.
Another key partnership has been with the Open Finance Tracker, an intelligence service founded by Carlos Figueredo of Open Vector. This partnership enhances OpenFuture World’s ability to track and share progress in open finance on a global scale. The Open Finance Tracker brings in valuable analytics about how various countries are advancing in open banking/open finance, which complements OpenFuture World’s content curation.
As Figueredo noted, many nations are taking their first steps into open finance and looking to learn from each other, so joining forces with OpenFuture World and Findexable helps provide “an easily searchable global view” of the ecosystem. These collaborations demonstrate OpenFuture World’s role as a connector and aggregator in the industry – it doesn’t work in isolation, but rather unites different sources of expertise and data for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Beyond these, OpenFuture World has informal collaborations and engagement with a variety of industry groups and companies. It has been recognized by established financial institutions and influencers alike. For instance, BBVA’s API Market (a major bank’s open banking initiative) reviewed the OpenFuture World directory, acknowledging its utility. And fintech companies such as Belvo have listed OpenFuture World among the top fintech resources to follow, citing it as a “leading global source” for open banking and open finance information.
Such endorsements underscore the credibility OpenFuture World has earned through collaboration and quality content. Additionally, the platform engages with its community via social media (LinkedIn and Twitter/X) and invites contributions, effectively crowdsourcing knowledge and perspectives from the global community. This inclusive approach to industry collaboration helps ensure that OpenFuture World stays at the forefront of open banking developments and remains a trusted facilitator of financial data collaboration across the sector.
Global Impact and Contribution to Fintech Innovation
Over the years, OpenFuture World has made a significant global impact on the open banking and fintech landscape. By providing a centralized hub of information and connections, it has accelerated the spread of open banking concepts and highlighted innovations across continents. One measure of its impact is the sheer international scope of its activities: the platform’s content and directory span dozens of countries, and its events draw participants from over 100 nations.
This global reach means that best practices in one market can quickly become known in another, fostering a cross-pollination of ideas in the fintech ecosystem. For example, through OpenFuture World’s news and analysis, a fintech developer in Latin America can learn about regulatory developments in Europe’s PSD2 or a successful open banking use case in Asia, enabling them to adapt and innovate locally. In this way, OpenFuture World contributes to fintech innovation by disseminating knowledge that startups, banks, and policymakers can act on.
Furthermore, OpenFuture World’s annual Open Finance Global Rankings and similar research initiatives provide valuable benchmarks for the industry. By analyzing which organizations, countries, and even individual leaders are most prominently advancing open banking, these rankings celebrate achievements and inspire healthy competition. They shine a light on both major players and up-and-coming firms that are “punching above their weight” through great leadership or unique solutions.
Recognizing such contributors helps attract investment, talent, and partnership opportunities to the space, thereby fueling further innovation. The platform’s influence can also be seen in how it has normalized the conversation around open finance. Concepts like sharing data via APIs, embedded finance, and open insurance have gained traction faster because OpenFuture World consistently covers and explains these trends, making them accessible to a broad professional audience. By educating and informing, the organization lowers barriers to entry for new market entrants and encourages traditional financial institutions to embrace change.
Critically, OpenFuture World has advanced the narrative that open banking is part of a larger global banking transformation. Banking is evolving from a closed, institution-centric model to an open, customer-centric ecosystem, and OpenFuture World’s work reinforces this shift. The platform often highlights how open banking and open finance lead to greater financial inclusion, more personalized services, and new business models.
Through the stories it shares and the community it nurtures, OpenFuture World emphasizes that this transformation is a worldwide movement – one built on collaboration, transparency, and innovation. The fact that it is frequently referred to by regulators, financial executives, and tech innovators indicates its role as a bellwether for industry change. In sum, by connecting stakeholders, championing innovative ideas, and providing a panoramic view of the ecosystem, OpenFuture World has become an engine for fintech ecosystem growth and global banking transformation, ensuring that the momentum of open banking continues to accelerate on a global scale.
Conclusion: Driving the Future of Open Banking and Beyond
From its origins in 2016 to its multifaceted activities today, OpenFuture World stands out as a driving force in the open banking and open finance domain. The organization’s origin story – emerging from an identified need for better connectivity and information in a fast-growing sector – set the stage for a platform that now influences how banks and fintechs collaborate and innovate worldwide.
Guided by a clear mission to share knowledge and bring people together, and helmed by passionate leadership, OpenFuture World has built an array of impactful initiatives: a global directory breaking down silos, daily news keeping everyone up-to-date, insightful analyses, and events that convene the brightest minds in finance and tech. Through strategic partnerships and an unwavering commitment to community engagement, it embodies the very principles of openness and collaboration that define open banking.
As open banking evolves into open finance and even broader open data opportunities, OpenFuture World’s role is more important than ever. It contributes not only by chronicling the journey but by actively shaping it, spotlighting innovations, encouraging financial data collaboration, and celebrating the pioneers of this new era. In doing so, OpenFuture World helps ensure that the transformation of banking truly is global and inclusive, spreading the benefits of fintech innovation to consumers and businesses in all markets.
By continuing to champion progress in open banking and beyond, OpenFuture World is effectively helping to drive the future of finance, where connectivity and openness lead to better financial products and services for everyone. In the ongoing story of open banking innovation and the global fintech ecosystem, OpenFuture World has proven to be an indispensable chapter – one that will undoubtedly continue to influence the industry’s trajectory for years to come.
Sources
- OpenFuture World – About us
- The Paypers – Open Future World launches global open banking and open finance directory (29 Sep 2020)
- The Fintech Times – A New Global Open Banking and Open Finance Directory Has Launched (Gina Clarke, 29 Sep 2020)
- The Fintech Times – Open Future World Reveals Who Was Most Spoken About in Open Banking and Open Finance in 2021 (Francis Bignell, 7 Jan 2022)
- OpenFuture World – Open Finance Global Rankings (annual report, 2022)
- Open Banking Expo – Raidiam appoints Marie Walker as resident ‘open futurist’ (Ellie Duncan, 21 Apr 2023)
- Belvo Blog – Top fintech influencers and newsletters to follow in 2023