IFX FORUM ACCEPTED BY ISO AS LIAISON ORGANIZATION
WAKEFIELD, Mass. - March 21, 2006 - The Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum today announced that its application to join the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) as a Category D Liaison member to TC (Technical Committee) 68 has been approved by ballot. TC 68 develops and promotes the ISO 20022-UNIversal Financial Industry Message scheme (UNIFI), an international standard that defines the ISO platform for the development of financial message standards.
The IFX Forum is a not-for-profit standards-developing organization working to develop a robust framework for the electronic business-to-business exchange of data among financial service institutions around the world.
"The IFX Forum firmly believes the ISO 20022 effort to be in strategic alignment with our mission of interoperability. Indeed, our approach to IFX bears a strong resemblance to UNIFI's use of business modeling for users and developers to represent financial business processes and underlying transactions in a formal but syntax-independent notation," said Mark Tiggas of Wells Fargo, an IFX Forum Director and the Forum's representative to ISO 20022. "Becoming more directly involved with the ISO will provide good synergy for efforts within both groups."
"Acceptance as a Liaison member of TC 68 recognizes our continuing contributions to the international standards for the financial services industry," said IFX Forum President Richard P. Urban. "It is also completely consistent with our ongoing commitment to interoperable messaging supporting financial transactions across corporate and national boundaries."
At the time UNIFI was prepared in 2004, XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) was already the preferred syntax for e-communication, according to the ISO. Therefore, the first edition of UNIFI proposed a standardized XML-based syntax for messages, and in fact, the IFX Forum was the first organization to announce support for the new standard, in IFX Version 1.6. The IFX Forum has been working and continues to work with other Standards Development Organizations on the harmonization of key standards for inclusion into the UNIFI repository.
Annual Members Meeting May 1-4, Minneapolis
The IFX Forum's 2006 Annual Meeting will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, May 1-4. These quarterly meetings are an important platform for the Working Groups' efforts, in addition to teleconferences that move the work along in between. IFX Forum Working Groups will hold intensive hands-on sessions, in addition to plenary sessions for membership updates and officer elections and an overview presentation for new attendees. IFX Forum member Wells Fargo is hosting the meeting. Details of hotel recommendations and registration will be posted online when they are available, at www.ifxforum.org
Prospective members are invited to attend the Annual Meeting for a fee of $695 per person (which will be credited toward membership dues, if application is made within 60 days after the meeting), to become familiar with the group's activities before formally joining. Advance meeting registration is required.
About the IFX Forum
Membership in the IFX Forum is open to anyone interested in contributing to the development of open financial standards that harness the power of XML. The IFX Forum is currently organized into the following Working Groups: ATM/POS; Business Banking; Branch Banking Services, Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment; and Web Services. 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 www.IFXForum.org
For further information:
Judith Vanderkay
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jvanderkay@virtualmgmt.com
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