Call For Proposals (CFP)

The Open Source in Finance Forum (OSFF) is the premier event connecting the leaders in financial services, technology, and open-source innovation – a unique combination of business decision-makers and developers at one conference. This conference is uniquely designed to foster partnerships, advance talent development, and accelerate technological advancements across the finance industry; building faster, trusted, and secure solutions.

As open source becomes integral to financial services, OSFF provides companies with the tools to maximize open source collaboration. By strategically contributing to open projects, organizations benefit from reduced development costs, heightened security, top talent, and rapid innovation. OSFF 2025 will spotlight groundbreaking advancements, deliver insights on best practices, and offer exclusive access to the leaders shaping open source in finance.

Please be aware that the Linux Foundation will now utilize Sessionize for CFP submissions. Sessionize is a cloud-based event content management software designed to be intuitive and user-friendly. If you need guidance, please review how to submit your session for an event to see step-by-step instructions and helpful screenshots.

Please view our 10-minute video outlining best practices for submitting a CFP for Open Source in Finance Forum London 2025

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We welcome talks on a wide range of topics relevant to open source in financial services. Our talk themes this year center around our strategic initiatives. 

Please Note:

Below are potential / suggested topics that speakers may use as guidelines within the conference themes above. PRODUCT / SALES PITCHES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

Please do not submit a general talk. We are very interested in talks built around our financial services decision-maker and technologist audience. Regulated industries like finance have a different set of rules that our community has to negotiate daily – so make your talk impact this community, not just open source communities in general.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), Emerging Technologies and Innovation

• The Rise of AI Agents and Digital Workforce in Financial Services: Enhancing Productivity, Automation, and Customer Experience.
•  AI Readiness for Financial Services – Build Safe & Responsible AI through Open Source.
• The role of emerging technologies, such as quantum computing and IoT, in shaping the future of finance.
• Practical applications of AI for operational efficiency, customer service, and risk management.
• Case studies on successful implementation of AI-driven financial models.
• Methods for complying with governance, regulations, & internal policies around emerging technology. 

Case Studies in Open Source Financial Applications

• Real-world success stories: OSS implementations in financial institutions and the outcomes achieved.
• Showcasing open source as a driver of business and technical value within finance.
• Overcoming challenges in open source adoption: lessons learned and best practices.
• How open source is accelerating the speed to market for financial solutions.

CDM (Common Domain Model), Regulatory Technology (RegTech), and Compliance

• Interoperability of CDM with data standards (like FDC3, FIX, FpML) and internal data formats.
• Extending CDM to a wider domain of asset classes, products, business events, and workflows.
• Validating your data’s conformity with standards like CDM programmatically.
• Managing persistence of data with ever-changing versions of standards like CDM. 
• Using RegTech solutions to simplify compliance and regulatory reporting.
• Open source approaches to achieving operational interoperability and transparency.
• Leveraging collaborative solutions to meet evolving regulatory requirements.
• Developing and implementing open standards to improve financial system interoperability.
• The role of standards in fostering innovation and simplifying compliance.
• Leveraging common data models and protocols to enhance system integration.
• Collaboration among financial institutions to drive industry-wide standardization.

Developer Tools, Best Practices, and Talent Development

• Essential developer tools for open source contributions in finance.
• Upskilling through open source: training and resources for financial software developers.
• Empowering budding diverse talent to engage in FS OS. 
• Advancing an inclusive culture of best practice in OS. 
• Advancing internal talent pipelines, upskilling and retention through involvement in FS OSS projects and Education (training & certification).
• Leveraging open source to attract top technical talent and drive retentionImproving Developer Experience & driving Digital Transformation with open source tools in developer portals, platform engineering, DevOps, etc.
• Deploying compliant systems, applications, platforms, & architecture utilizing open source tooling.
• Driving quality open source contributions using robust and scalable open testing suites.

FDC3, Frontend Development, and Interoperability

• Standards and best practices for financial desktop interoperability.
• Case studies in leveraging FDC3 standards to improve desktop application integration.
• Enhancing the user experience in financial applications through modern frontend technologies.
• Strategies for enabling seamless data flow and user experience across platforms.
• Interoperability standards like the Common Domain Model (CDM).

Hot Topics in Open Source Finance

• The impact of blockchain, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), and NFTs on financial services.
• Cloud adoption and its influence on open source financial applications.
• Harnessing AI and automation to transform financial services.
• Innovations in identity management, credit systems, and government-led open source initiatives.
• Emerging open source solutions and standards for modernizing payments infrastructure and processing.

OS-Climate

• The role of open source tools in climate-related risk and opportunity measurement in finance.
• Open-source data infrastructure, collaborative data validation, and governance for climate-focused analytical tools.
• Methodologies for quantifying climate-related physical risks across sectors and geographies. Tools for resilience planning to protect assets and communities from climate impacts.
• Frameworks for evaluating sector-specific transition pathways.
• Approaches to temperature rise analysis, temperature alignment metrics.

Open Source Collaboration and Community Building

• Building and sustaining robust Open Source Software (OSS) communities within financial services.
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies for open source communities.
• Recognizing and rewarding contributors to strengthen community engagement.
• Tools and techniques for maintaining active, healthy open source communities in regulated industries.

Open Source Readiness

• Strategies for preparing financial institutions to engage in open source projects.
• Open source compliance: navigating the regulatory landscape.
• Best practices for establishing Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) in finance.
• Guidelines and tools for assessing and enhancing open source readiness.

Open Source Security and Supply Chain Risk Management

• Implementing secure open source practices in highly regulated industries.
• Tooling and methodologies for identifying and mitigating security vulnerabilities in the open source supply chain.
• Securing the open source software (OSS) supply chain: challenges, strategies, and innovations.
• Collaboration models that enhance the security of OSS projects through community oversight.

• Session Presentation (typically 30 minutes)
• Panel Discussion (typically 30 minutes)
• Round Table Discussion (typically 30 minutes)
• Workshop/Tutorial (typically 30 minutes)
• Lightning Talk (typically 15 minutes – ideal for first-time speakers)

While it is not our intention to provide you with strict instructions on how to prepare your proposal, we hope you will take a moment to review the following guidelines that we have put together to help you prepare the best submission possible. To get started, here are three things that you should consider before submitting your proposal:

1. What are you hoping to get from your presentation?
2. What do you expect the audience to gain from your presentation?
3. How will your presentation help better the ecosystem?

There are plenty of ways to give a presentation about projects and technologies without focusing on company-specific efforts. Remember the things to consider that we mentioned above when writing your proposal and think of ways to make it interesting for attendees while still letting you share your experiences, educate the community about an issue, or generate interest in a project.

How to Give a Great Talk

We want to ensure submitters receive resources to help put together a great submission and, if accepted, give the best presentation possible. To help do this, we recommend viewing seasoned speaker Dawn Foster’s in-depth session titled Overcoming Imposter Syndrome to Become a Conference Speaker!

Have More Questions? First Time Submitting? Don’t Feel Intimidated

Linux Foundation events are an excellent way to get to know the community and share your ideas and the work you are doing, and we strongly encourage first-time speakers to submit talks for our events. If you aren’t sure about your abstract, reach out to us, and we will be more than happy to work with you on your proposal.

The Linux Foundation is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for participants at all of our events. We encourage all submitters to review our complete Code of Conduct.