ASC X9

The Accredited Standards Committee X9 (ASC X9, Inc.) mission is to develop, establish, maintain, and promote standards for the Financial Services Global Industry in order to facilitate delivery of financial services and products. ASC X9, Inc. is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) accredited standards committee since 1984. As the standards organization responsible for the development of all financial services standards in the U.S., ASC X9 plays a key role in the development and adoption of new technologies in the banking, brokerage and insurance industries. Many of its current work projects involve developing ecommerce standards such as better online security for financial transactions. As U.S. standards are developed, because ASC X9 is the USA Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the International Technical Committee on Financial Services ISO/TC 68 under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), of Geneva, Switzerland, ASC X9 submits its American National Standards to the international committee to be considered for adoption as international standards by the ISO.

Under this mission ASC X9 fulfills the objectives of:
* Support (maintain, enhance, and promote use of) existing standards;
* Facilitate development of new, open standards based upon consensus;
* Incorporate nonproprietary items developed by other organizations where appropriate;
* Provide a common source for all standards affecting the Financial Services Industry;
* Focus on current and future standards needs of the Financial Services Industry;
* Promote use of Financial Services Industry standards; and
* Participate and promote the development of international standards.

National Committees

ASC X9 is composed of four Subcommittees based on Financial Services business sectors:
* X9AB - Payments;
* X9C - Credit;
* X9D - Securities Processing; and
* X9F - Data & Information Security.

X9 member companies' subject matter experts are organized into Working Groups within each Subcommittee. These Working Groups develop andmaintain American National Standards for the Financial Services Industry and help to form the USA position onmatters that arise in the development of international standards within ISO Technical Committee 68 (TC 68) and its Subcommittees.

History of ASC X9

In 1984, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the scope of activity for the X9 Standards Committee on Banking, as "Standardization for Facilitating Banking Operations." The group expanded its membership beyond banks to include vendors, insurance companies, financial associations, retailers, securities professionals, regulators, and others in the financial services area. With this approval, the name was changed to X9, Financial Services.

ANSI first granted X9 official accreditation in 1984. The official committee name became as it remains today, Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X9, Financial Services. Since this time, ASC X9 was incorporated under a 501c6 non profit designation for associations. ASC X9, Inc. operates under its own procedures in compliance with the American National Standards Institute's Essential Requirements.

How is X9 structured?

Presently, ASC X9 operates 4 technical subcommittees and 20-to-30 technical working groups developing financial industry standards and guidelines. ASC X9 is the USA Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the International Technical Committee on Financial Services (TC 68) under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), of Geneva, Switzerland. In this role, X9 holds the USA vote on all ISO standards of TC 68 Financial Services or its subcommittees SC2- Security, SC4- Securities and SC7 - Core Banking. X9 holds the USA vote into the ISO 20022 (UNIFI) Registration Management Group (RMG) which today consists of the RMG board with Standards Evaluation Groups named as follows;Payments, Securities, Trade Finance, Foreign Exchange and Retail/Cards. For more on UNIFI go to www.iso20022.org. X9 services as the RMG Secretary as named in ISO 20022.

What type of standards has X9 had approved as American National Standards?

X9 American National Standards are widely used and recognized. Many X9 standards are either cited or required by the U.S. Federal government for use in financial procedures and transactions. In addition, X9 standards are the basis for many international standards used in facilitating global commerce. Examples of X9 standards commonly used today in the US and around the world are; paper and electronic check standards (X9 owns about 98% of the standardized real estate on the front and back of checks, credit card magnetic stripe standards, credit/debit card messaging standards, so that we can use credit cards and ATM cards in millions of locations every day anywhere in the world without interoperability problems that would otherwise hinder their widespread use. X9 is also responsible for all check standards in the U.S. and pioneered the development of the magnetic ink character recognition (MICR) line now present on all U.S. checks as well as the standards for magnetic stripe cards found on all credit and debit cards. Other important X9 financial services standards include Data Encryption Standard (DES) and its successor Triple DES the current encryption security algorithm used in securing most banking transactions worldwide.

International Role and X9's Participation

Where appropriate, X9 proposes American National Standards to become adopted as international standards under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO's Technical Committee 68 (TC 68) Financial Services is the global counterpart to ASC X9 and works toward developing worldwide standards for all financial service providers. ASC X9 is an experienced and enthusiastic participant in the ISO-based development of standards. Within TC 68, X9 is one of more than 30 organizations assigned by participating national standards bodies who work toward global standards development.

US TAG

ANSI (www.ansi.org) accredited X9 for the position of US Technical Advisory Group (US/TAG) to the ISO committee for Financial Services, Securities, and Core Banking. X9 supplies US technical opinion votes on the development and adoption of international standards that support the financial industry. X9 approves delegates to represent the US in international meetings and participate in the international development process. In addition, X9 serves as Secretariat to TC 68 which is the administrator to the TC 68 organization.

About TC 68

In the late 1940s, members of the financial industry came together under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to begin developing operational standards for the banking industry to use on a world-wide basis. The name of the organization working on banking standards was Technical Committee 68, or TC 68-Banking. Today, the committee is name Financial Services as most financial institutions offer a broad range of financial products. ASC X9 holds a unique position within this ISO framework. It is the Secretariat to TC 68 and is also the leader of the official United States Technical Advisory Group (TAG) which represents the US financial services industry to the international technical committee. Within TC 68 there are, at present, three technical subcommittees, or SC's: SC2, SC4, and SC7. Subcommittees prepare and manage international standards within specific areas of concentration.

External links

[http://www.x9.org X9]

[http://www.ansi.org ANSI]

[http://www.iso.ch ISO]

[http://www.iso20022.org ISO 20022]

References

cite web
last = Secretariat
first = ASC X9
title = History of ASC X9
url=http://www.x9.org/history.shtml
accessdate = 2006-11-18 Note: Citation of copyrighted material used by permission of author.cite web
last = Secretariat
first = ASC X9
title = X9 Mission Statement
url=http://www.x9.org/mission.shtml
accessdate = 2006-11-18 Note: Citation of copyrighted material used by permission of author.