NACHA and IFX Forum merge to accelerate API standards
by Bija Knowles
The Interactive Financial eXchange (IFX) Forum, the US no-profit association charged with developing IFX business message specification, has been merged as an independent operating entity under NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association in order to further the development of standardised APIs and other standards for the global financial services industry. In a statement, the two entities announced that their merger aims to accelerate and strengthen the development of standardised application programming interfaces (APIs) to support the global financial services industry. IFX Forum will now operate as an independent group within and supported by NACHA, with its own governing board, the statement added.
NACHA's president and CEO, Janet Estep, said that the work done by the IFX Forum will speed up the process of achieving global interoperable API standards and solutions for payments and beyond.
The combination agreement allows NACHA and IFX Forum to align the API development priorities of NACHA’s API Standardization Industry Group (ASIG) and the IFX Open Banking APIs Working Group. IFX Forum's Richard Urban commented: “This combination is a big win for IFX Forum members, and a bigger win for the financial services industry. We’re now poised to offer even greater value, innovation and leadership for our members, subscribers and partners.”
ASIG includes 100 US organisations, from financial institutions, fintechs, businesses, service providers and standards organizations. Its focus is standardising the use of APIs in the US, using ISO 20022 where possible. The organisation has identified 16 API use cases that will have an immediate impact on the financial services industry and payments ecosystem.
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