Deutsche Bank aims to create a common industry standard for trading technology by making its own computer code publicly available for the first time.
The bank says it will put over 150,000 lines of code from its electronic platform Autobahn into the public domain so that trading applications from different providers can use it as a shared foundation for building interoperable connections.
The code, known as Plexus Interop, is designed to connect thousands of different applications from across the financial services industry, enabling banks and clients’ systems to talk to each other. Currently, many market participants use multiple applications for data, news and trading that work independently of each other.
Peter Wharton-Hood, COO of the Corporate & Investment Bank at Deutsche Bank says the move is in response to feedback from clients who did not want to be tied to one proprietary provider.
“We want to be a leader in open source technology in the banking sector," he says. "By making this code publicly available, we aim to create a common industry standard that will deliver a faster and more convenient service to clients, strengthen controls and reduce costs.”
To begin with, the German bank will share the code with the Symphony messaging and collaboration platform.
David Gurle, Founder and CEO of Symphony, says: "Plexus Interop represents the largest outside contribution to the Symphony Software Foundation since its founding, and underscores the power of the community and our strong partnership with Deutsche Bank.”