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  • user 3:35 am on December 21, 2017 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , establish, , , , , Standards, vital   

    Why PSD2 and Open Banking make it vital to establish industry standards for APIs 

    Major changes are underway in Europe’s payments landscape. In the UK, the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has triggered a fundamental reshaping of the UK’s digital financial ecosystem through the regulation. And in the EU, the (Revised Payment Services Directive) regulations—coming into force on 13 January 2018—require to open their systems to third parties, and provide interfaces for them to initiate payments and retrieve account information.

    However, PSD2 leaves open the details of the application programming interfaces () that third parties will use to connect with banks. While the CMA has required British banks to set up an independent implementation entity called Open Banking Limited, the European Banking Authority’s (EBA’s) draft Regulatory Technical (RTS) for PSD2 specifies only technical framework conditions and no interface standard.

    As a result, cross-bank or pan-European API standards have yet to be clarified. Creating these standards is : PSD2 aims to develop a unified, innovative, pan-European digital ecosystem for financial products—and uniform interfaces and processes are essential for achieving this goal. So the lack of an implementation entity for the EU is a significant gap.

    To help fill it, the Berlin Group—consisting of almost 40 banks, associations and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) from across the EU—has defined a common API standard called &;NextGenPSD2&; for the use cases specified in PSD2. Initiatives are also being launched in Poland, Slovenia and France. However, given that the standardisation initiatives of the Berlin Group and Open Banking are the most advanced, it makes sense to compare these two frameworks to identify their main differences. Here they are:

    USE CASES COVERED: Open Banking supports the use cases &8220;Payment Initiation&8221; (PSD2 article 66) and &8220;Account Information&8221; (PSD2 article 67). The Berlin Group covers all PSD2 use cases by adding &8220;Fund Confirmation&8221; (PSD2 Article 65).

    DATA FIELDS: Working with numerous EU banks, the Berlin Group analysed various online banking masks to create a minimum standard set of data fields which all banks must offer via their APIs. In contrast, the Open Banking standard was negotiated only among the CMA9 banks and a UK third-party advisory group, and provides more extensive information, including on balances and available balance types that are particularly relevant to fintechs.

    CONSENT MODEL: Open Banking allows the customer to allow specific data clusters for use by third parties – for example, only account balances, deposits or direct debit transactions. This approach is close to the data minimisation requirements in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Berlin Group provides for consent only for account balances and transaction histories for a certain period.

    MESSAGE FORMATS: The Open Banking Standard uses only the JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format with field names based on ISO 20022, while the Berlin Group offers alternative industry-standard formats. On top of JSON, Berlin Group supports JSON with encapsulated ISO 20022-based pain.00x for payments and camt.05x and MT94x for account information.

    AUTHENTICATION: Open Banking supports strong customer authentication (SCA) through the &8220;redirect&8221; approach, while the Berlin Group offers two more approaches: “decoupled” (using a dedicated bank app), and “embedded” (the name of the customer is carried directly through the bank API).

    USER EXPERIENCE: In addition to the API specifications, Open Banking standardises the user experience and text modules in the click route, unifying consent issuing, authentication (2FA) and account information/payment authorisation. The Berlin Group allows each bank to devise its own user experience.

    TRANSACTION RISK ANALYSIS: The Transaction Risk Analysis defined in the RTS is supplied differently, with Open Banking offering more parameters via the API.

    While these are the main differences at this time, the gap may narrow. For example, the Berlin Group is expected to incorporate requirements in the final version of its proposals, scheduled for publication by the end of 2017. It’s also important to remember that implementing a standard does not automatically make a bank PSD2-compliant, since it still needs to comply with other aspects of the RTS like authentication methods, exemptions from SCA and API testing systems.

    The EBA’s RTS is expected to be ratified by the European Parliament at the end of February 2018, after which banks and other PSPs will have 18 months to implement it—including providing APIs. In choosing between the available standards, banks should make their evaluation as early as possible and take strategic and technical aspects into account so they can hit the ground running. Time is short—and having the optimal APIs in place will be critical to success in the PSD2 world.

    For additional information, see our report, PSD2: Defining new customer journeys

    My thanks to Hakan Eroglu for his research and analysis for this blog.

    The post Why PSD2 and Open Banking make it vital to establish industry standards for APIs appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.

    Accenture Banking Blog

     
  • user 2:53 am on April 11, 2017 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , Lots, Standards, ,   

    Lots Of Talk Ahead To Develop International Standards For Finance And Fintech 

    There’s of talking to global for financial firms and . It’s pretty vague in these announcements but more is promised.
    Tom Groenfeldt – Financial Technology

     
  • user 9:40 pm on October 12, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , Interoperability, , Standards   

    Double Standards: The Coming Push for Blockchain Interoperability 

    Startups, bodies and corporations are all playing a role in the ongoing debate over standards.

    Source


    CoinDesk

     
  • user 6:40 pm on September 15, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , Standards   

    Australia to Lead International Blockchain Standards Effort 

    A major body has created a technical committee for and put in charge of the .
    CoinDesk

     
  • user 9:40 pm on September 9, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , Standards,   

    Hyperledger to Address International Trade Standards Body 

    Leading members of the project are scheduled to ISITC next week.
    CoinDesk

     
  • user 5:23 pm on July 18, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Benchmarks, , , ISITC, Proposes, Standards   

    ISITC Europe Proposes 10 Blockchain Standards Benchmarks 

    has introduced 10 to help ensure the rapidly growing ecosystem of distributed ledgers work together.
    CoinDesk

     
  • user 3:35 pm on June 9, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , , Reference, Standards   

    Alex Batlin’s Briefing of Crypto 2.0 Musings – Standards and Reference Data Governance DAO 

    Last few weeks has seen the rise of The DAO &; an organization like no other. Part VC fund of about 170 million USD, part crowdfunding platform, part machine. The machine part is the novel piece of the puzzle &8211; effectively all of the of this new entity is done by smart contracts on Ethereum, so whereas before, humans outsourced worked to machines, the machines now outsource work to humans &8211; machines invite humans to fund them and then vote on, and monitor investments on their behalf.

    Read my PALE blog for more details behind the concept of distributed autonomous organizations.

    Whereas before, humans outsourced worked to machines, the machines now outsource work to humans

     

    Alex Baltlin | Ricardian Contracts

    Baltlin&;s &8211; Personal View

    Machine Governance makes better decisions

    Whilst the idea of machine governance is truly exciting, in the case of a VC fund, folks like BitShares, who have been running a less public but none the less similar scheme for a bit now, have raised concerns such as effective engagement &8211; people like the idea and invest in a fund, but do not have the time or expertise to manage it, so without a clear leader, good decision making is absent &8211; of course on the other hand we have seen plenty of leaders make very bad decisions and whole concept of crowd wisdom argues that even relatively uninformed people, in sufficient numbers will make better decisions than a well informed individual.

    The same concept of automated governance e.g. voting, can in my opinion be easily transplanted to many other areas, including bodies. Think open source foundations like Apache Software FoundationLinux FoundationEthereum Foundation and Bitcoin Foundation, or folks like International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) and BSI Group.

    Governance DAO solves managerial issues based on its smart contract

    Whilst standard setting activity is far less glamorous than managing a multi-million fund, in my opinion it faces a far smaller risk of rejection &8211; very few people I suspect get excited about operating governance procedures, so automation here is a form of pain relief. The other issue with blockchains today is lack of transaction amount privacy, which may be an issue for VC funds in some cases, but a must-have feature for a standards body.

    Assuming that either a standards body will be comfortable using virtual currencies or fiat money will be on-chained, a Governance DAO will even be able to manage it’s own funds to pay human staff wages, office leases etc.

    And here comes the double whammy &8211; if the standards body is managing , take ISO 4217 currency codes for example, both the codes and their metadata i.e. a living locally stored and replicated document, as well as governance rules like votes for change, can be managed on-chain by smart contracts.

    Any change is replicated in near real-time to anyone running a node, to make use of as appropriate inside their firewall. Given the importance of reference data and today’s reconciliation issues, a Governance DAO sounds to me like a great value proposition.

    Source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/crypto-20-musings-standards-reference-data-daos-alex-batlin

    The post Alex Batlin’s Briefing of Crypto 2.0 Musings – Standards and Reference Data Governance DAO appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.

    Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH

     
  • user 2:38 am on May 10, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , Standards,   

    Consensus Blockchain Standards Panel: Industry Should Take Action 

    The last day of 2016 featured a workshop discussion on for development.
    fintech techcrunch

     
  • user 10:54 pm on May 9, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , Standards,   

    Open Letter: Open Standards & Consensus Ledgers 

    The history of how have developed in the Western World is a valuable source of information for the future of Ledger ( tech for most everyone else, I know I am stubborn and contrarian). I have previously written on my blog about the necessity of open standards in the crypto space and am doubling down with this open which is a cry to arms.

    Engineers of all stripes &; mechanical, electrical, chemical&; &8211; got together in the United States and the UK to create open standards in the 19th century. They tinkered, tested different paths and settled on a consensus method out of which the current organizations in charge of creating and managing standards emerged.

    There are roughly four methods to create open standards. Two of them are hierarchical and fiat driven, one is market driven and the last one is a hybrid.

    The first two methods are a) legislative and b) regulatory driven. These bodies are administrative and bureaucratic, highly hierarchical and deliver mandates for the creating of open standards. The results are usually poor and sub-optimal. The third method is purely market driven &8211; let the best market participant win, develop its IP and create standards &8211; and produces equally non-optimal results. One of the best examples of a market driven approach is the market dominance Western Union reached in the 19th century around the intellectual property it built and managed in early telecommunications and finance. The result limited competition and innovation until new organizations took wrestled the mantle of open standards for themselves and cooperated to create a more level playing field.

    The fourth method is a hybrid method that incorporates market and hierarchical vectors. This hybrid method is governed by a neutral body that drives towards consensus by involving all market participants while developing clear rules that all abide by.

    The key to success for a hybrid method are:

    1) Involve as large a network of stakeholders as possible

    2) Create a set of transparent rules and a framework to develop, manage and govern open standards so that no one party can distort and control the process

    3) Ensure that open standards are grounded, leverage the new technology, and deliver value to all professionals in a given field.

    4) Sustain involvement from industry participants through open collaboration going forward so that open standards and the body that manages and governs them is a living entity.

    Not developing open standards or developing sub-standard open standards has its downside. the absence of widely approved and appropriate system architectures means lack of interoperability, waste and duplicative efforts and eventually material delays in the widespread acceptance and use of a new technology.

    I posit that consensus ledger tech is at an inflection point. Get open standards right and this new technology will see accelerated adoption sooner than most thought leaders predicted. Miss the opportunity and we may experience disappointment for a while. This is especially important as consensus tech can and will be applied and used by more than one industry and for many use cases, and because each industry is the sum total of specific properties such as regulation, legal frameworks and business processes that have evolved specialized work flows and processes over time &8211; none more so than the financial services industry.

    To be more specific, any industry or business models that incorporates use cases that can benefit from peer to peer platforms, disintermediation, some level of de-centralization, transactional and data transparency, is poised to benefit from consensus ledgers. This means the capital markets, insurance and payments sectors within the financial services, marketplaces within the retail industry, social networks, media &8211; social and traditional &8211; higher education, data management in general &8211; data monetization and identity management &8211; to name but a few, are poised to benefit from consensus ledgers.

    Therefore, the wide adoption of consensus ledger tech is a function triangulating between and optimizing for regulatory concerns, existing legal frameworks, existing standards &8211; as developed for data, data handling, data messaging, data taxonomy &8211; and existing software and hardware engineering practices/standards, existing operating systems and existing industry needs ACROSS heterogenous industries. (One also needs to take into account existing payments systems and practices given and how these may interact with consensus ledgers.) Further, the development of open standards will invariably have an impact, through feedback loop mechanisms, on current and accepted ways of doing business as well as how these accepted ways are regulated and legally bounded.

    Additionally, and to add complexity to the mix, we are dealing with three competing stacks already and the inevitable interoperability issues that raises: a) ethereum, b) and c) ripple/stellar. This makes it even more crucial to arrive at agreeable top level open standards and avoid balkanization to the extent these stacks will co-exist, users may favor one or the other for specific use cases or more than one in other use cases.

    For these reasons, I strongly believe the hybrid path outlined above is the only optimal path. This path ensures a neutral body is empowered to develop and govern standards applicable to meta issues around consensus ledger tech stacks and interoperability. This does not mean such a body would rule over business logic, i.e. smart contracts, which industry incumbents and service providers would be free to collaborate or compete on depending on appropriateness and strategic goals.

    I note various entities have already raised their hands to tackle open standards &8211; for-profit organizations as well as not-for-profit organizations &8211; none of which, to my knowledge, have deep knowledge with managing open standards. I am outlining below who should, in my opinion, be asked to help with open standards for consensus ledgers as well as various paths to the creation of a new standards body.

    I see three options for the hybrid path. Either through the creation of a new ad hoc body or via an existing organization.

    As for the first option, we can use the example of the Internet Engineering Task Force, IETF, see here which was created in 1986 for the sole purpose of promoting voluntary internet standards. One could envisage a new task force, a truly independent one, without any ulterior commercial motives, to be created  with the participating of various stakeholders across industries and manned by professionals hired out of existing standards bodies. A very viable option in my opinion.

    As for the second option, it would be a derivative of the first one. The only difference being that a for profit organization would volunteer to seed such a body and allow itself to remain neutral and promote a truly open governance framework.

    As for the third option, I see only a handful of candidates that would be truly neutral, global and bring a breadth and depth of expertise in the field of standards creation, management and governance that all industry stakeholders would have no material objections. These are a) the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE, see here, which is a neutral and global body and has in its midst many software engineers and computer scientists; b) the International Organization for Standardization, ISO, see here, and the International Electrotechnical Commission, IEC, see here, which both have joined forces and created a joint commission, the ISO/IEC JTC 1 tasked with developing and managing standards in Information Technology, see here.

    As an aside, I believe bodies such as the International Organization of Securities Commissions, IOSO, see here, FpML see here, the Financial Industry Business Ontology, FIBO, created by the Enterprise Data Management Council, see here, have a role to play. I am sure other similar bodies in the payments or insurance sectors and outside of the financial services industry would be appropriate value add actors.

    My wish is for at least one of either IEEE, ISO or IEC to get involved with consensus ledger technology, or for a for-profit organization to create ad hoc framework with a neutral governance process to step forward. The latter would only be effective at a sector level, i.e. insurance or capital markets for example, thusly we may miss the opportunity to unify standards pan industry which may have negative implications from an interoperability point of view. Would the latter be such a suboptimal path I wonder? Practicality needs to be taken into account obviously and aspirations to boil oceans from the onset usually amount to little in the long run.

    Finally, the creation of open standards will also usher the material benefit of allowing the emergence of new tech stacks and/or facilitate the strengthening of existing ones (ethereum, ripple/stellar, bitcoin).

    Have I missed anything?

    FiniCulture

     
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