IFX FORUM LAUNCHES NEW WORKING GROUP FOR CARD MANAGEMENT & SERVICING
All Working Groups to Meet November 18-20 at Members Meeting in Orlando, Following Launch of IFX 2.0; Prospective Members Invited
WAKEFIELD, Mass. – Oct. 6, 2008 – The Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX; http://www.ifxforum.org) Forum has announced the official formation of a Card Management and Servicing Working Group, following approval of its charter by the IFX Forum Steering Committee.
The IFX Forum is an international not-for-profit industry association whose mission is to develop IFX and promote its adoption as an open, interoperable standard for financial data exchange.
The new Working Group, which is led by David Kruzich, senior manager, Financial Services Sector, CSC (NYSE: CSC), is chartered to ensure that the IFX Business Message Specification (BMS) has all the necessary messages to perform card services.
"Card" is defined as the services related to Issuing, Management and Servicing of Credit, Debit, Prepaid and Private Label cards. The services may be initiated by a customer service representative or through a customer-enabled channel such as the Web or interactive voice response telephony (IVR). Examples include, but are not limited to, card origination, activation, replacement, lost/stolen, status changes, general maintenance, etc.
"The Card Management and Servicing Working Group will add desirable new functionality to the IFX standard," said Richard P. Urban, President of the IFX Forum. "Including card management and servicing messages in IFX will assist financial institutions as they seek to broaden the services they offer customers, while also desiring to increase the efficiency of their operations. We feel confident that we'll see many new implementations of IFX resulting from this expansion."
"In concert with other industry experts, CSC is committed to the development of IFX open standards to benefit the banking, cards and payments industries and to accelerating even greater adoption," said Paul Leadbetter, CSC’s chief technology officer for Banking and Consumer Finance. "We will leverage IFX standards in several of our offerings, enabling banks and card organizations to improve their customer experience and deliver a broader array of products and services across multiple channels, all in a highly agile and flexible environment."
The Card Management and Servicing Working Group will closely coordinate its work with the Branch Banking Services and ATM/POS Working Groups.
The new Working Group will have its first face-to-face sessions at the upcoming IFX quarterly members' meeting November 17-20, in Orlando, Florida, USA. The first day will consist of a public launch of IFX Version 2.0, capped by a celebration of the Forum's 10th anniversary. Attendance on Monday, November 17, is open to all -- there is no fee, but registration is requested, from the link at http://www.ifxforum.org. Registrants are also eligible to receive room discounts at the hotel.
Prospective members are invited to attend the working portions of the face-to-face meeting, November 18-20, for a fee of $695 per person (which will be credited toward membership dues, if the company joins the Forum within 60 days after the meeting), to become familiar with the group's activities before formally joining. All active Working Groups will meet. A link to detailed meeting information and registration is posted at http://www.ifxforum.org.
About the IFX Forum
Founded in 1997, the Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum is an international not-for-profit industry association whose mission is to develop IFX and promote its adoption as an open, interoperable standard for financial data exchange, suitable for use by all sectors of the financial services industry. The IFX Forum also promotes interoperability of industry standards by working cooperatively with other standards organizations and consortia.
Forum membership is open to organizations interested in contributing to the development of open financial standards. Forum members include financial institutions, hardware, software and service firms, and related non-profit groups. The IFX Forum is currently organized into the following Working Groups: ATM/POS; Branch Banking Services; Business Banking; and Card Management and Servicing. IFX Forum Working Groups, in concert with an Architecture Committee to coordinate their efforts, develop open Internet-compatible messages for all sectors of the financial services industry. To learn more about IFX Forum standards or the benefits of IFX Forum membership, please visit http://www.IFXForum.org.
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