Any new technology will be deployed into our messy and complex world of overlapping platforms and legacy systems. Cleaning this up, consolidating it and making progress can only come from acknowledging the realities of our present ecosystem and building to fit them.

Fortunately, these lessons are well understood by the Digital Monetary Institute community. This year’s annual features contributions from members from a variety of sectors, all on the theme of interoperability – its value and the challenges of delivering it. Contributions from RTGS.global, Swift, Ripple, Visa and more emphasise a growing need to incorporate interoperability in financial systems.

While there are key advantages to the technology, the concept is not without its challenges – namely ‘global and national regulatory frameworks, standardisation hurdles as well as security and privacy concerns’ as James Wallis, vice president, central bank engagements and central bank digital currencies at Ripple argues. But it will be essential to unlocking the potential of a fully digital financial ecosystem, says Steffen Schacher, Universal Digital Payments Network lead, GFT.

2024 is likely to be another year of rapid and dynamic evolution in the digital money space. As technical developments come into alignment with strategic objectives, it is worth highlighting a final, vital aspect of interoperability: institutional collaboration. Building flexible, interoperable systems in isolation is much more difficult than building them as part of a vibrant and collaborative community.

But between its challenges and its potentialities, OMFIF looks forward to another year facilitating productive discussions within the digital money community.