FIX Protocol Ltd. (FPL) and SWIFT have "announced an agreement under which the two organizations will seek convergence of their respective messaging protocols." SWIFT has been developing a financial message design rules specification as an XML standard "swiftML for Business Messages." SWIFT is "an industry owned co-operative supplying secure messaging services and interface software to over 7,000 financial institutions in 192 countries; SWIFT carried 1.2 billion messages in 2000." Through the FIX Organization, FIX Protocol, Ltd. has been developing the public-domain Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol as "a messaging standard developed specifically for the real-time electronic exchange of securities transactions. FIX is a globally recognized messaging standard that enables the electronic communication of pre-trade and trade messages between financial institutions, primarily investment managers, broker/dealers, ECNs and stock exchanges." The new agreement between SWIFT and FPL, "which centers on the adoption of ISO 15022 XML as a common industry standard, will, for the first time, provide a tangible link between the front and back office operations of securities institutions. This link will enable the seamless flow of data across the entire transaction chain. Under the terms of the agreement, FPL and SWIFT will actively support the efforts of the ISO Working Group 10, which aims to evolve the current ISO 15022 scheme for securities message types to a single standard, expressed in XML. The agreement leverages the expertise of FPL in the pre-trade/trade domain and SWIFT in the post-trade domain. Both organizations will work to develop mapping documentation to support the industry's migration to ISO 15022 XML and the coexistence of FIX, ISO 15022 and ISO 15022 XML. ISO 15022 XML is expected to be available by early 2002."

ISO 15022 XML Working Group 10 Mission Statement: "Evolve ISO 15022 to permit migration of the securities industry to a standardized use of XML, guaranteeing interoperability across the industry and with other industry sectors, particularly but not restricted to the financial industry. The ISO 15022 standard: Part 1: "Data field and message design rules and guidelines." Part 2: "Maintenance of the Data Field Dictionary and Catalogue of Messages." The Registration Authority is SWIFT. It maintains Data Field Dictionary/Catalogue of Messages, supports the Registration Management Group, and monitors the Registration Authority." WG Participants include: (1) GSTPA, FIX, ISITC-IOA, SMPG, SWIFT, Thomson, FinXML, FpML, ECSDA, EMX, Telekurs, Instinet, etc. (2) DTCC, Euroclear, CREST, Clearstream, etc. (3) SSMB, Merrill, BoNY, ING, State Street, Chase, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bk, Goldman, Citigroup, Northern Trust, Barclays, etc.

A Yahoo mailing list "XML_Init_Main" has been set up for 'Coordinating XML Activities in the Securities Industry'. "This group is being formed under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as the ISO 15022 XML Working Group (WG 10). One key area of focus will be business modeling techniques in the standards process. Modeling, which offers a syntax neutral approach to standards development, is already being utilized by organizations like ebXML, HL7, GSTPA and SWIFT. The mission of the group is to evolve ISO 15022 to permit migration of the securities industry to a standardized use of XML, guaranteeing interoperability across the industry and with other industry sectors, particularly but not restricted to the financial industry This ISO 15022 XML Group consists of a Steering Committee and three project teams that address specific issues. The current project teams include Reverse Engineering, UML/XML Design and Registry/Repository."