IFX for Business Banking

For general information about the IFX Standard please go to www.ifxforum.org/standards.

IFX includes a set of messages that have been designed to address the complexities of corporate banking needs while taking advantage of the benefits of network environments. IFX can be used across various types of applications - from internal data communications to integration of data across many companies. The goal of IFX for Business Banking is to allow companies to interact more effectively with each other and accomplish end-to-end e-commerce.

Leading financial institutions and trading partners developed IFX for Business Banking, working together to create a useful set of messages and elements that encompass a wide variety of business banking activities and rules.

Addressing the Complexity of Corporate Banking Needs with IFX

The required business rules that support the banking needs of corporate customers can be highly complex and encompass detailed processing rules that are typically not seen in a consumer-based banking model. Requirements to support features such as multiple payments with multiple due dates being applied to single invoices and all of the possible permutations thereof are more the norm than the exception.

Some of the uses of IFX in Business Banking include:

Transmitting documents and information over the Internet easily and with little intervention or reformatting
Using standard formats for banking transactions in business/corporate day-to-day operations
Exchanging payment instructions, bank confirmations, bank statements, receipts information, and account reconciliation documents with banking partners and/or between organizations
Automatically updating internal systems with the formatted data from any of these documents

Integrated Support for Retail and Wholesale Banking

Additionally, the IFX specification allows for optional integration of Retail and Wholesale banking services. IFX provides a wide range of retail banking features that can easily be integrated with banking applications that require support for both. This is particularly useful in inter-bank transactions, record keeping and data transmission.

IFX for Business Banking – Features and Benefits

Benefit	Feature
Supports multiple Payment Origination models.	Single Payer/Single Payee/Single Remittance Single Payer/Single Payee/Multiple Remittances Single Payer/Multiple Payees/Multiple Remittances Intermediary Bank routing and settlement information Central Bank Reporting for international cross-border payments
Support for Direct Debit Origination	Origination of direct debit by payee vs. payer All the features of Payment Origination
Control Notification	Check Sum Totals for various characteristics
Payment Acknowledgment	Summary and Detail Acknowledgment for total number of payments and dollars Status for acceptance, rejection or change Detail information for each payment file or group of payments transmitted
Remittance Detail	Single or multiple invoice detail Line item detail by invoice Multiple delivery options, i.e., direct or indirect
Comprehensible Remittance Reporting	Remittance details from multiple sources, i.e., Lockbox processing, ACH, and Wires Single or multiple invoice detail Line item detail by invoice
Positive Pay Services	Check Issue notification for in-house check printing Reconciliation status for checks paid, outstanding, canceled, and/or stopped
Balance and Transaction Reporting	Account balances for cash forecasting Based on parent/child relationship Transaction reporting for general ledger account reconciliation
Check Order and Reorder	Details for generation of paper checkbook orders, i.e., name and address on check, type of check stock, checkbook cover, promotion, etc. Automatic reorder or reorder with change
ISO 20022 Integration	Incorporation of ISO 20022 Credit Initiation and Payment Status messages in conjunction with the features of the IFX object model and request/response processing.

The Business Banking Working Group

The IFX Forum's Business Banking Work Group (BBWG) is responsible for the work of enhancing or creating IFX messages that support the various banking messages necessary for small business to large corporations to communicate with their banks/financial institutions, service providers and other external points.

Participants include banks, software providers, services providers, ERP vendors, and other organizations. Representatives from the BBWG participate in the IFX Architecture meetings, presenting proposed messages or modifications required to meet business banking needs. The WG meets regularly via teleconference/webconference. Intensive face-to-face working meetings are held in conjunction with the IFX Forum quarterly meetings in various locations.

What Is Business Banking Working On?

Upcoming work includes the implementation of additional ISO 20022 messages into the IFX framework, as well as the incorporation and/or harmonization to efforts initiated by other standards groups, such as those around remittance and software package integration.