New York-based fintech firm OpenFin, which specializes in web-based operating systems for financial firms, has announced the joining of Mark Yallop as its non-executive board director.
Yallop is an industry veteran and has more than two decades of experience in the capital market businesses. Before taking charge of his new position at OpenFin, he held the position of the Chair for the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities (FICC) in London. Simultaneously, he served as an Independent Member of the Prudential Regulation Committee at the Bank of England. He also served as a group CEO at UBS for a year, where he was responsible for the firm’s investment banking, wealth management, and asset management activities.
About his new responsibilities at OpenFin, Mr. Yallop said: “As the financial services industry emerges from the shadows cast by the financial crisis, and faces up to the new challenges resulting from regulatory developments and behavioral changes by market participants, radical re-thinking is needed about traditional business models.”
“OpenFin is innovating in some of the most fundamental areas in capital markets, providing the foundation for innovation and digital transformation across the industry. The industry can no longer afford archaic distribution infrastructure and a fragmented desktop environment. The OpenFin operating system will fundamentally change financial desktops in the same way that Android standardized non-Apple mobile devices,” he added.
Exploring new spaces
OpenFin is also exploring and expanding its technological spaces to cater its clients more efficiently with rising competition. Earlier this year, the firm contributed code to Symphony Software Foundation’s software, which enabled a secure and compliant messaging system to OpenFin’s operating system.
Set up in 2010, OpenFin has grown to serve more than 45 of the world’s largest banks and trading platforms including BNP Paribas, Citigroup, HSBC, ICAP, JP Morgan and RBS, which now use OpenFin to deploy applications both in-house and to over 250 Buy-Side and over 40 sell-side customers. OpenFin OS is also licensed across more than 125,000 desktops and is used to deploy hundreds of applications to over 400 major banks and buy-side firms.
Mazy Dar, CEO of OpenFin, commented: “I am delighted to welcome Mark Yallop to our Board of Directors. He brings a deep understanding and knowledge of the wholesale capital markets and an outstanding track record in addressing challenges exposed and commercial opportunities created by regulatory change. His passion for driving industry collaboration and innovation will be instrumental in our journey to standardize OpenFin OS across financial services.”
