The open source software was first established by the Gates Foudation in 2017 to support financial inclusion. The project will now continue to serve banks, digital financial service providers, governmental officers, NGOs, regulators, tech firms and other entities in emerging economies, to help underserved communities.
The foundation has appointed a board of directors, officers and Technical Governing Board, with appointees from each of the organisation’s sponsor members. Each member of the board will have one equal vote. Board members for 2020-2021 will include Miller Abel (deputy director and principal technologist, Gates Foundation), Adama Diallo (head of Partnerships for Next Billion Users Africa, Google), David Wexler (CEO, ModusBox), Adrian Hope-Bailie (head of services and interledger, Coil), CV Madhukar (MD of Beneficial Technology, Omidyar Network) and Kevin O’Neil (director of Data and Technology, The Rockefeller Foundation).
The board has in turn elected the following officers and Technical Governing Board (TGB) for the term, namely Kosta Peric as chairman; Paula Hunter as secretary; and Robert Ron (CFO of ModusBox) as treasurer. TGB representatives for the term include Miller Abel; Adrian Hope-Bailie; JJ Geewax (software engineer, Google); and Warren Carew (VP, ModusBox).
Overseen by the board of directors, the TGB will oversee the organisation’s work, including participation in software decisions and authorization of code maintainers.
The new foundation noted that although mobile money services exist in nearly 100 countries, 1.7 billion people still lack access to digital financial services, according to the World Bank’s Global Findex. A lack of interoperability between digital financial services and payment platforms is a large part of the problem. If widely adopted, interoperable digital financial services could provide provide more people with access to financial tools, while adding USD 3.7 trillion to emerging countries’ GDP by 2025, according to McKinsey Global Institute.
