Ed Cable

President & CEO

Mifos Initiative

Roadblock Title:

Reaching 3 Billion Underbanked Through Inclusive Fintech Powered by Open Source Primitives

Time:

Wednesday - 2:00 PM (Tower B)

Abstract:

Building financial infrastructure for underserved markets introduces engineering challenges most fintech teams never encounter: offline transaction handling, low-connectivity environments, fragmented payment rails, localized product requirements, and extreme pressure to keep systems both scalable and affordable.

Over the past two decades, our team has evolved an open source core banking platform originally built for microfinance institutions into infrastructure supporting fintechs operating at massive scale across emerging markets.

This session shares the architectural lessons and operational tradeoffs we encountered along the way, including:

evolving from monolithic systems to modular MACH-based architecture
supporting extensibility without excessive platform forks
designing for multi-tenancy and intermittent connectivity
balancing standardization with market-specific flexibility
preparing financial infrastructure for AI-driven workflows and emerging fraud risks

Attendees will leave with practical lessons for building resilient, adaptable financial systems in complex operating environments and insights into how open ecosystem-driven development can accelerate innovation at scale.

Bio:

As President/CEO of the Mifos Initiative, Ed Cable is a leader in inclusive fintech and open service financial services innovation. He’s also a founding member of the OpenG2P Initiative. Since his time at the Wharton School, Ed has understood and proven out the catalytic power of communities - first through the cooperative movement, then through financial inclusion, and now through the open-source for financial services and digital public goods. Ed stays at the forefront of the industry’s trends, applying his vision and foresight to enable the Mifos community to keep pace with rapid fintech innovation and nurture the growth of a vibrant ecosystem of solution providers reaching nearly 20 million clients through solutions powered by Fineract and Mifos. When he’s not focused on cultivating innovative fintech solutions, Ed tends to his menagerie of animals including a mini yak, goats, peacocks, dogs, rabbits, and chickens as an Airbnb Superhost in the majestic Redwoods.