ISO 15022, second edition: introducing XML

What is happening?

The ISO 15022 standard is currently under review to make it XML-aware. This will result in:

· A second edition of the official ISO-document that describes the ISO 15022 standard.

· A new “ISO 15022 Repository” that will contain the building blocks for all future financial messages (not only in Securities but also in other domains of the financial industry).

What’s the goal?

The first goal is to get an industry-wide agreement on a single financial repository. This repository will contain:

· An agreed set of definitions for all relevant business elements.

· An agreed set of standardised messages, based on these business elements.

· An agreed way to use these messages.

The ultimate goal is to let the financial industry use this single repository for all its standards-related needs.

What’s the timeframe?

· The building of the repository will be a gradual process and will take many years.

· The financial industry will decide when to start using the messages that are defined in the repository. This decision will depend on its concrete needs. It will be a gradual process and the timeframe will be different in different areas of the financial industry. It’s however obvious that this will take many more years to complete.

No impact on current implementation!

There is no impact on the existing ISO 15022 messages that are defined in the ISO 15022 Catalogue of Messages. These messages will remain available as long as needed by the industry.

Current activities

1. The official second edition of the standard is in the ISO approval process and should be approved by the third quarter of 2003.

2. Two projects have started building parts of the single financial repository: one is focusing on the “securities pre-trade” area and the other on the “securities post-trade” area.