RIXML.org, a consortium of buy- and sell-side global market leaders committed to the development and implementation of the first open standard for investment research, announced today the addition of Bloomberg to the organization, bringing the total number of Associate and Steering Committee members to 23.
As a part of the RIXML organization, Bloomberg will participate as an Associate Member, which is a membership category that encourages all industry participants to get involved in the development and implementation of the standard. Over the past year, Bloomberg has been actively working with the RIXML standard by engaging in pilot programs, which enables them to receive RIXML formatted research from several sell-side firms.
"We are very pleased to welcome Bloomberg as a part of our continued efforts to streamline the consumption and distribution of investment research," said Andrew Ling of UBS and Sell-Side Co-Chair of the RIXML.org Steering Committee. "Bloomberg is a key player whose knowledge and expertise will be a great asset as we continue working with the industry to make investment research RIXML-compliant."
"Not only has RIXML become the accepted standard for investment research, with the addition of Bloomberg to RIXML.org, RIXML is achieving the critical mass it needs for long-term success," states Michael Haney, senior analyst with Boston-based Celent. "Now that all of the major research aggregators and distributors are incorporating the RIXML protocol, the developers and consumers of research should finally begin to see the increased efficiencies and cost savings that standardization brings."
In December 2003, RIXML.org released version 2.1 of its specification, which adjusted the standard to incorporate taxonomies that address ratings for both equity and fixed income markets. Moreover, RIXML has been working closely with buy and sell-side firms and third party data vendors to help determine how to best use RIXML and implement into upcoming IT projects.
Deirdre Goldenbogen of Putnam Investments and Buy-Side Co-Chair of the RIXML.org Steering Committee added, "Over the last year we have seen a change in the industry and more firms are now focusing on how to use RIXML, rather than if they will use RIXML. Every day more and more firms have an answer to the 'how' question, which ultimately yields great progress for RIXML."
Recent key RIXML successes include institutions such as Merrill Lynch, UBS and American Century. In December 2003, Merrill Lynch indicated its new research platform would accommodate the Standard and in February, UBS announced that it was extending the use of the standard to its internal research distribution platform. The firm already uses RIXML tagging to distribute research externally to several buy-side firms. On the buy-side, American Century has moved from a physical library to an electronic one company-wide and will incorporate RIXML into that as a way of bringing in reference, trading and research. Additional RIXML implementation plans are in the pipeline for late 2004.