The OFX Consortium, a group of companies that includes Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), Parsam Technologies, Citigroup (NYSE: C), and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), is working to standardize the way financial transactions are transmitted over the Internet. The consortium is seeking comments on a new proposal that would increase the safety, security and reliability of electronic transfers.
The proposal, available at http://www.ofx.net/, takes a new approach to aggregating customer data by extending the widely used Open Financial Exchange (OFX) specification in ways that allow aggregators to receive account data for large numbers of users. In addition, it provides a mechanism that removes the need for sensitive user information, such as passwords, to be stored on aggregators' systems.
The proposal was developed by the Open Financial Exchange Aggregation Services Working Group over the past 12 months. This extension to OFX provides ways to meet data exchange guidelines as defined in BITS Voluntary Guidelines for Aggregation Services, Version 2.0, published in January 2004, which is being endorsed by businesses with varying roles in electronic financial transactions.
Companies Voice Support
"As a financial technology provider serving aggregation needs of many institutions, we want a highly secure and efficient method to get reliable, transactional account data," said Dinesh Sheth, chief executive of Parsam Technologies, the uMonitor data aggregation technology provider firm that chairs the OFX group. "OFX is a well-established XML-based standard that met many of those needs, but needed modification to meet specific account aggregation requirements. By working with industry and technology participants in an open forum through this OFX consortium, we were able to extend the standard to accomplish industry goals. Original founders of the OFX Consortium have opened the doors for the industry to freely participate and extend the standard to keep up with growing requirements. They even allowed inclusion of non financial information."
Intuit Inc., whose OFX-enabled products include Quicken®, QuickBooks® and TurboTax®, is another supporter.
"Unified, safe and reliable standards benefit everyone, most importantly our customers," said Gil Clark, OFX program manager at Intuit. "As OFX gains wider adoption, more companies will want to participate and have a voice to make sure it meets their needs. The Aggregation Services Working Group demonstrates the ability of OFX to do just that."
Citigroup is among those in the banking industry who support the plan as well.
"Citigroup has been an industry leader in offering aggregation services for our customers and early on recognized a need for a better data exchange methodology," said Michael Grancolas, chief architect, Citibanking Technology Solutions Group. "Citigroup strongly supported this effort because of the capability it gives us to more effectively use OFX in our inter- and intra-enterprise environment."
Microsoft Corp. is also a key supporter of OFX.
"OFX is the leading method for direct data exchange between financial institutions and consumers, enabling critical industry practices such as secure, reliable account aggregation," said Greg Martin, financial products connectivity evangelist at Microsoft Corp. "By supporting OFX enhancements, we are helping to bring the most advanced technology to the industry, financial services companies and their customers."
The OFX Aggregation Services Working Group had many organizations involved in the process and received significant input from Business Logic Corp., Fidelity Investments and Teknowledge Corp.
Comments are welcome and should be submitted to dinesh@umonitor.com.
