FIX Certification Goes Live

The production version of the FIX Certification Program has been released through the four Certification vendors. The release represents Phase I and covers Treasuries, agencies and corporate securities and provides certification for pre-trade, trade and post-trade messaging. You are encouraged to contact the Certification vendors to learn more and to begin the Certification process.

The purpose of the Certification Program is to provide the fixed income community with a standardized method of implementing the FIX 4.4 protocol. The program is designed to lower the barrier to entry for implementing FIX by creating an agreed upon and verified way to transmit information between counter-parties.

The Certification Program will be offered to FPL member firms free of charge through the Certification vendors. The vendors may, at their sole discretion, charge fees for the FIX Certification services to non-FPL member firms. FPL will provide on its website a central listing of a firm’s certification status, subject to each firm's willingness to make the information public.

The Certification Program will be broadened by covering additional fixed income products and, eventually, certification for other asset classes. The Certification Working Group is in the process of prioritizing the next set of products. The Certification Program remains open to additional vendors who may wish to enter the program as Certifiers.

Special thanks to Max Mansur of SWIFT and the members of the Certification Working Group for the development and deployment of the Program.

To learn more about the Certification vendors:

Aegis Software

B2BITS

NYFIX

TransactTools

Global Fixed Income Committee Annual Meeting:

Thanks to all who participated in the annual in-person meeting in December. There was excellent attendance and very lively discussion. There was a review of the numerous activities of the Global Fixed Income Committee and FPL for 2004 and a discussion of new goals for 2005.

The primary goal identified for 2005 was accelerated adoption of the Protocol and participants discussed the most effective tools and methods for educating and marketing the Protocol. Promoting the just completed Certification Program and educating regulators and market utilities were also important items. Also members would like more in person meetings.

Thanks especially to Lehman Brothers for hosting the event. Minutes of the meeting and the PowerPoint presentation are available

Yearend meeting minutes

Yearend meeting PowerPoint

New Americas Co-Chair

Congratulations to Martin Koopman of Cameron Systems on his election as the new Co-Chair of the FIX Americas Committee. Martin has been involved in over 100 FIX deployments across fixed income, equity, FX and derivatives. He has been especially involved with FIX for fixed income and represented the Global Fixed Income Committee on numerous panels and industry events.

Initiatives he would like to move forward include increased adoption of FIX within the hedge fund community, expanding the Americas Committee focus to include the Latin American and Canadian financial communities, increased integration of FIX working groups, and increased networking opportunities for FIX members.

Order the FIX Guide

Order the FIX Guide online

If you were a business manager and assigned the responsibility of implementing FIX for your organization you might wonder where to begin. The FIX Guide was designed to provide information to answer these questions. The Education and Marketing Subcommittee has now published the second edition of the FIX Guide in hard copy form.
The Guide outlines how to evaluate network choices, FIX engines, connecting the engine to multi-dealer platforms, rules of engagement and the FIX process for fixed income. Thirty market professionals contributed to the development of the Guide.

www.FIXGlobal.com

Lisa Taikitsadaporn, of Brookpath Partners, has joined the editorial board of FIXGlobal, the quarterly journal, to represent fixed income.

The theme for the next Issue #5, due out in March, is “the regulatory environment for FIX and electronic trading”. The theme encompasses the impact of proposed regulatory changes across asset classes on the buy side, sell side, exchanges/ECNs, and data vendors. The editorial deadline is 14 Feb 2005 if you are interested in writing an article.

The theme of Issue #6 is “market/exchange structural evolution and the views of exchanges across asset classes". The theme is intentionally broad to cover market structure, market data and trade reporting. The editorial deadline for Issue #6 is May 10, 2005. If you would like to contribute on either topic please contact the FIXGlobal Americas Editorial Board.

FIXGlobal Americas Editorial Board:

Ross Hutcheon

Draft Allocations Implementation Guide for review

The Business Practices Subcommittee is soliciting comments on the draft Allocations Implementation Guide. The Implementation Guide covers allocations, confirmations and settlement instructions using FIX.

Comments from industry members are especially important for describing “best practices” and ensuring that any special requirements are accommodated within the Protocol. Suppliers of front and middle office trade and order processing technology are especially encouraged to respond. Comments and questions can be sent to and .

Draft Allocations Implementation Guide

FIX Americas Conference DVDs now available

The First FIX Americas conference was a huge success. If you were unable to attend and would like to review the FIX Americas conference held in November you can order DVDs individual conference sessions or the full conference.

To order the conference DVDs

Euro Bond Market Study - European Central Bank (ECB)

Transparency of Corporate Bond Markets - International Organizations of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)