"FinXML is an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) based framework developed to support a single universal standard for data interchange within the Capital Markets. FinXML acts as a common standard for cross application information exchange, allowing a financial institution or other organization to communicate the details of highly structured financial transactions in electronic form. As such, FinXML can be used as the basis for straight through processing (STP) and risk management within a financial institution as well as conducting e-commerce over the Internet. The availability of FinXML opens up a range of possibilities for the Capital Markets.
"The FinXML consortium is responsible for the definition and dissemination of the FinXML specification and related vocabularies. The consortium is made up financial institutions, technology vendors, systems integrators and others involved in the Capital Markets. The consortium web site is the place to go for to find information about FinXML and related subjects such as news and events, solutions, and developer resources. In addition, consortium members have early access to new FinXML vocabularies, reference implementations and detailed examples."
"The vocabularies in FinXML are based on the standards defined by ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.). FinXML is interoperable with existing financial protocols such as FIX and S.W.I.F.T. In addition, FinXML is compatible with outside industry standards such as BizTalk and cXML, which support e-commerce and EDI. The FinXML specification and DTDs for FinXML vocabularies are currently available to consortium members, however, this information will soon be made generally available."
[July 16, 1999] A communiqué from the FinXML Support Team announced that "FinXML version 1.0 is now freely available for download from the Consortium website. The 15(+) 'Version 1.0' DTDs provide a modular set of vocabularies/schemas for many aspects of financial transaction (financial product transactions, specification of date generation parameters, instrument definitions, specification of a settlement chain, interest rates used in transactions, business day definitions, definition of contries and languages for confirmations, cash flows and other types of financial events, etc.); see the individual DTDs for details. To access the distribution, please register at the FinXML.org website and obtain your userid and password. Registration is available from http://www.finxml.org. FinXML was announced earlier as an initiative developing a 'Digital Language for Capital Markets'. FinXML is an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) based framework developed to support a single universal standard for data interchange within the Capital Markets. FinXML acts as a common standard for cross application information exchange, allowing a financial institution or other organization to communicate the details of highly structured financial transactions in electronic form."
References:
FinXML Repository - "The repository section of this site supports direct online automated access and management of DTDs and eventually Schema definitions of FinXML vocabularies. As new schemas that support FinXML are created and approved by the consortium, they will be posted here for public access."
Email contact: info@finxml.org
[July 07, 1999] "Integral Freely Releases First Capital Markets XML to Unify Industry Efforts. Sun Microsystems and Chase Manhattan Corporation Among The First To Support This Initiative." - "Delivering on its promise made in early May, Integral Corporation announced today the general availability of FinXML 1.0, a standard data interchange language for capital markets. Leveraging the success of its in-house working group, Integral is initiating an industry-wide FinXML consortium. As a major step towards this goal, the working group has openly released the FinXML data table definitions (DTDs) to the public. They can be downloaded for free from the Web site www.finxml.org. As a next step, FinXML DTDs will be mapped to other XML approaches in the financial industry unifying industry efforts. The FinXML consortium will provide a safe and open choice that supports emerging XML standards -- to foster and accelerate adoption of XML in the financial industry. FinXML's specifications were developed in conjunction with standards defined by ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.), which are already being widely used in the financial industry. FinXML is interoperable with existing financial protocols such as FIX and S.W.I.F.T. In addition, FinXML will be made compatible with outside industry standards such as Microsoft's BizTalk and Ariba's cXML, which support e-commerce and EDI. FinXML is expected to mature and expand with feedback from the consortium."
[May 04, 1999] "Integral Announces FinXML, The First XML For Capital Markets. Freely Available for Adoption as the Market Standard." - "Integral ... announced FinXML, the first Extensible Markup Language (XML) designed specifically for capital markets. FinXML enables application data integration across business systems including legacy systems, new developments and existing third-party applications. FinXML is freely available to the financial marketplace as a de facto implementation of the XML standard for capital markets. Its specifications were developed based on standards defined by ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.) which are already being used in the financial industry. 'We expect FinXML to become the standard language for describing capital markets instruments and transactions,' says Harpal Sandhu, CEO of Integral." See also "Integral Introduces Browser-Based Capital Markets System. Provides Industry's First Enterprise JavaBeans-based Trading and Risk Management System." [local archive copy]