IFX Forum Partners and Liaison Activities

Because it is not possible for one standard to address all of the needs of the financial services industry,  the IFX Forum works closely with other organizations to foster interoperability, through its Liaison & Interoperability Working Group.

The IFX Forum has informal agreements or formal Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) regarding:

  • ISO 20022 (UNIFI)
  • ISO TC68/SC7/WG9 (ATM)
  • BIAN (Banking Industry Architecture Network)
  • X12F (Financial)
  • ASC X9 (ISO 20022 Extended Remittance)
  • EPASOrg

IFX Forum, Inc. was a founding member of the ISTH workgroup in 2003 along with TWIST, SWIFT and OAGi, which resulted in the initial ISO 20022 specification. The stated goal of that group was to recommend a common core payment message and transaction that could be accepted into each of the standards. The IFX Forum implemented that payment kernel in its 2004 Version 1.6 release.

Representatives of the IFX Forum regularly attend and participate in meetings of these standards bodies, such as the ISO TC68 Plenary Sessions.

In 2014 the IFX Forum completed the ISO standalone remittances messages.   The IFX Forum has also, by invitation, taken a leadership role in the Remittance Coalition launched by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Forum representatives also educate other audiences about the work of standards bodies, such as the presentation at the McKinsey & Company Payments Operations and Strategy Forum on July 11, 2013 in Miami by Susan Colles, Director of Global Standards, Bank of America Merrill Lynch (along with Ralph Hertlein, EVP of Operations, OAGI), entitled "The Global Unification of Financial Messaging: Exploring best practices with ISO 20022."

IFX Forum representatives regularly attend the Chicago Payments Symposium and also participate in many NACHA Meetings