SWIFT’s MyStandards service is an important solution for solving the problem of understanding exactly what standards and formats each bank uses. MyStandards is a:

• web-based financial messages repository (e.g. MT/XML) with public and restricted content
• service that is independent from SWIFT connectivity usage
• single platform for clients to directly access structured and consistent format guidelines from different banks world-wide.

The format guidelines are available in a variety of export formats including, PDF, Excel or XML schema according to clients’ needs.

Deutsche Bank is amongst the first banks to offer MyStandards for external usage for its clients and is also providing access through a new channel.

Integration of MyStandards into Deutsche Bank’s Autobahn App Market

To make it even easier for their corporate clients to use MyStandards Deutsche Bank will, from November 2014, be providing simplified, direct access via Deutsche Bank´s Autobahn App Market (through single sign-on), see figure below.

Screenshot of App market with MyStandards App displayed

Source & Copyright©2014 - Deutsche Bank 

David Watson, Head of GTB Client Access Products and Regional Head of Product Management Americas, Global Transaction Banking at Deutsche Bank, believes, “These new facilities will, significantly streamline and simplify the client´s process of receiving structured and consistent documentation for financial messages.”

Deutsche Bank does not charge for the new MyStandards App on their Autobahn App Market. 

How to use MyStandards

MyStandards can be used as a general source of detailed bank message formats and to answer specific questions. Another important role for MyStandards repository is to use it for the initial exploration of the format messages required by the bank before corporates talk to their bank minimises the to-and-froing during the client onboarding. Deutsche Bank have found that, “through the easy usage and document transparency of MyStandards clients can directly start with their message implementation and therefore can reduce the overall onboarding timeline.” 

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CTMfile take: Any improvement in access to the MyStandards message repository and additional functionality is to be welcomed, but, as the usage of MyStandards increases, banks must keep their details up-to-date. How accurate banks’ MyStandards details are, will become an important differentiator for corporates choosing banks.