Token GmbH Managing Director Appointed to Berlin Group openFinance Advisory Board

WHY THIS MATTERS:
Europe’s open banking journey is steadily shifting from regulatory compliance toward commercialisation — and governance now matters as much as technology. The Berlin Group’s openFinance framework is designed to extend open banking beyond PSD2, enabling premium services, richer data access and new revenue models for banks and third-party providers. Appointments to its advisory structures therefore signal where influence, priorities and practical implementation are heading. Token.io’s presence on the openFinance Advisory Board reflects the growing weight of account-to-account payments and Pay by Bank models in Europe’s payments strategy. As instant payments, interoperability and scheme-independent rails gain momentum, voices with real-world A2A experience will be central to shaping standards that can scale commercially, not just technically.

Token.io today announced that Gideon Fourie, Managing Director (Geschäftsführer) of Token GmbH, has been appointed to the Berlin Group’s openFinance Advisory Board, effective 1 January 2026.

The Berlin Group is a pan-European initiative defining open, scheme-independent interbanking standards, fostering interoperability and harmonisation across Europe. Its openFinance API Framework will allow banks and TPPs to offer enhanced commercial premium services, products and enriched data beyond the regulatory PSD2 scope of Berlin Group’s NextGenPSD2 standards. The Berlin Group first met in Berlin — hence its name — in October 2004, and currently has participation of 26 major players in the payments industry. The openFinance Advisory Board guides the overall future strategic and business direction of openFinance Framework, and will serve through December 2028.

Gideon Fourie, Token GmbH Managing Director commented: “I’m honoured to join the Berlin Group’s openFinance Advisory Board at such a pivotal time. Europe’s open banking evolution is entering its next phase — and collaboration across the ecosystem will be key to unlocking its full potential.”

Todd Clyde, Token.io CEO commented: “We congratulate Gideon Fourie on his appointment to the Berlin Group’s openFinance Advisory Board. His contributions will help ensure that future frameworks support both innovation and operational excellence — creating the conditions for Pay by Bank and A2A payments to truly scale in Europe.”

As Managing Director of Token.io’s EU entity, Token GmbH, Gideon oversees strategy and operations for one of Europe’s leading account-to-account (A2A) payment infrastructure providers. Token.io powers next-generation Pay by Bank solutions across the continent, helping banks and payment providers deliver secure, instant bank payments accessible to over 567 million bank account holders. 

With more than 25 years of experience in financial services and payments, Gideon brings deep expertise spanning strategy, operations, and regulation. Before joining Token.io, he held senior leadership roles at First Data/Fiserv, where he served as COO and CFO for the DACH region, and most recently worked as a consultant for The Fintech & Payments Advisory Network. His career has taken him across Europe, APAC, and LATAM — equipping him with a rich international perspective and a strong grasp of the open banking and payments value chain.

FF NEWS TAKE:
This appointment reinforces the industry’s pivot toward post-PSD2 open finance with clear commercial intent. If openFinance standards are to drive meaningful adoption, they must work for live payment infrastructure providers as well as banks. The key signal to watch next is how quickly openFinance APIs translate into deployable services that accelerate Pay by Bank and instant payments across Europe.