IFX Forum Recaps Productive 2004, Looks Ahead to New Web Services and Branch Banking Deliverables; Annual Meeting Set for April 25-29 in Toronto.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- The IFX Forum has released its 2004 Annual Report, recapping its accomplishments in 2004 and looking forward to additional successes in 2005 -- in particular, new deliverables from the Web Services Working Group and full-scale activity in the new Branch Banking Working Group. The complete report is available at www.ifxforum.org.

The IFX Forum, whose members are leaders in the financial services industry, 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.

"Our style as a group is low-key - we set our course and then work hard together to stick to it," said Richard Urban, President of the IFX Forum. "But looking back on last year as a whole, it is striking to see the range of our accomplishments, and how much ground we covered toward our goal to specify standards necessary for interoperable, interactive exchange of financial information. Our members deserve praise for their productive and focused efforts, which will see 2005's ambitious plans through to fruition as well."

2004 Highlights

New versions of the IFX specification were rolled out:

--In April, 2004, Version 1.5 was ratified, extending the ATM, POS, Business and Consumer Banking support provided in earlier releases.

--Version 1.6, the latest release, incorporates support for the International Standards Team Harmonisation (ISTH) collaboration initiative's deliverable, an XML core payment kernel for corporate-to-bank payment initiation and status messages.

--Work on Version 2.0, a re-architecting of the IFX specification to support Web Services standards, was begun and will continue into 2005.

New IFX Forum corporate members in 2004 included:

--American Express

--Brixlogic

--CIBC

--GTECH Corporation

--JPMorgan Chase

--KAL

--Nomad Software Ltd.

--Nucleus Software

The Branch Banking Services Working Group was formed in September:

--This new group is working to extend the existing IFX Business Message Specification (BMS) to include transactions performed through the bank branch delivery channel. Additional participants are welcome; see the Forum Web site for information.

Additional significant projects in 2004:

--In November, six Forum members participated in demonstrating a production-quality ATM system utilizing the newest IFX message format.

--In April, the forum published its 400-page ATM/POS (Automated Teller Machine/Point of Service) Implementation Guide, which is available for download at no charge from www.ifxforum.org.

--Phase One of the IST (International Standardization Team) Harmonisation effort, in which the Forum was a key member, came to a successful conclusion.

Plans for 2005

In the coming year, the IFX Forum plans to:

--Continue with Phase 2 of the ISTH project, working with Open Applications Group Inc. (OAGi), Treasury Workstation Integration Standards Team (TWIST), and the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).

--Release the first deliverables from the Branch Banking Working Group, which will modify existing IFX messages/message flows to support Branch Banking and Call Center transaction sets and functionality, and add new messages that enable new functionality.

--In the Web Services Working Group, finalize the Web Services Description (WSDL), XML Schemas, and Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs) needed for a recommendation; complete reference implementations on three platforms; publish an implementation guide; and deploy a reference server for testing of implementations.

--Continue progress on IFX Version 2.0, and deliver an interim release, Version 1.7.

--Strengthen the Forum's membership base, especially outside Europe and North America.

--Hold quarterly working meetings, including the Annual Meeting in Toronto, Ontario, April 25 -29. Prospective members are invited to attend free of charge, to become familiar with the group's activities before formally joining. Advance meeting registration is required; go to www.ifxforum.org for details, or write to [e-mail].

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; Branch Banking Services; Business Banking; 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.