ISDA®                

INTERNATIONAL SWAPS AND DERIVATIVES ASSOCIATION

NEWS RELEASE

 

For Immediate Release Friday, April 2nd, 2004

For More Information, Please Contact:

ISDA AGM Press Room, The Fairmont Chicago 312-565-7961

Louise Marshall, ISDA New York, 212-901-6000, lmarshall@isda.org

 

 

ISDA RELEASES FpML VERSION 4.0 RECOMMENDATION;

ANNOUNCES FpML EDITOR/VIEWER TOOL VERSION 2.0

 

CHICAGO, FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 2004 The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) today released a Recommendation for version 4.0 of the Financial products Markup Language (FpML). FpML is the XML-based, freely licensed, e-commerce standard supporting OTC trading of financial derivatives.

 

Beyond interest rate and foreign exchange derivatives, FpML 4.0 also covers equity options and equity swaps, as well as credit derivatives. On a technical level, 4.0 is the first schema-based version of the standard. Schemas describe a document template in XML format. The version also has a messaging framework, which defines the necessary information to send and receive documents. Validation rules are concurrently being developed for the products covered in version 4.0.

 

As is the final step in the development process of a version, Recommendation status reflects consensus within the FpML community and bears the Standards Committee stamp of approval. The Standards Committee considers the ideas and technology specified by a Recommendation as appropriate for widespread deployment. Recommendation additionally means that feedback has been incorporated and users are actively implementing it. Full text of the Recommendation is available at: http://www.fpml.org/spec/index.asp.

 

Work on version 4.1 has been initiated. An initial working draft covering CDS index trades and broker confirmations was published on February 20th 2004. A second working draft, slated for release in the second half of April, will include work from the newly formed working group on pricing and risk, as well as additions for equity derivatives and messaging.

 

At its 19th Annual General Meeting in Chicago, ISDA also demonstrated a beta version of the FpML editor/viewer version 2.0, which is expected to be available to ISDA members and non-members in June 2004. The new version of the tool, which is intended to make FpML more accessible, supports version 4.0 of the FpML standard, including the messaging framework. It additionally provides a confirmation view in line with the ISDA sample confirmations.

 

About FpML

FpML is the business information exchange standard for electronic dealing and processing of financial derivatives instruments. It establishes the industry protocol for sharing information on, and dealing in, financial swaps, derivatives and structured products over the Internet. It is based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), the standard meta-language for describing data shared between applications. Information about the FpML standard, the specifications and the different working groups can be found on the FpML web site: www.fpml.org.

 

ISDA is the global trade association representing leading participants in the privately negotiated derivatives industry. ISDA was chartered in 1985, and today has more than 600 member institutions from 46 countries on six continents. These members include most of the world's major institutions that deal in privately negotiated derivatives, as well as many of the businesses, governmental entities and other end users that rely on over-the-counter derivatives to manage efficiently the financial market risks inherent in their core economic activities. Information about ISDA and its activities is available on the Association's web site: www.isda.org. 

 

®ISDA is a registered trademark of the International Swaps & Derivatives Association, Inc.

 

 

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