The Accredited Standards Committee X9 (ASC X9, Inc.) - Financial Industry Global Standards, mission is to develop, establish, maintain, and promote standards for the Financial Services Industry in order to facilitate delivery of financial services and products. ASC X9, Inc. is an ANSI (American National Standards Institute) accredited standards developing organization, accredited by ANSI since 1984 (see www.ansi.org regarding its accredited organizations). As the standards organization responsible for the development of all financial services standards in the U.S., ASC X9 plays a key role in the development and adoption of new technologies in the banking, brokerage and insurance industries. Many of its current work projects involve developing ecommerce standards such as better online security for financial transactions. As U.S. standards are developed, and because ASC X9 is the USA Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the International Technical Committee on Financial Services ISO/TC 68 under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), of Geneva, Switzerland, ASC X9 submits X9 American National Standards to the international committee to be considered for adoption as international standards or ISO standards.
Membership is open to all U.S. domiciled companies and organizations in the financial services industry. Canadian and Mexican companies and organizations participate as well (with minor limitations when the U.S. votes into ISO, then they reply through their own country vote).
Under this mission ASC X9 fulfills the objectives of:
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ASC X9 is composed of four Subcommittees based on Financial Services business sectors:
X9 member companies' subject matter experts are organized into Working Groups within each Subcommittee. These Working Groups draft new standards and help to maintain existing American National Standards for the Financial Services Industry. X9 subcommittees and working group form the USA position/technical opinions on matters that arise in the development of international standards within ISO Technical Committee 68 (TC 68) and its Subcommittees (see www.iso.ch - Technical Committee #68). Also, see www.iso20022.org
In 1984, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the scope of activity for the X9 Standards Committee on Banking, as "Standardization for Facilitating Banking Operations." Later, X9 expanded its membership beyond banks to include vendors, insurance companies, financial associations, retailers, securities professionals, regulators, and others in the financial services area. With this approval, the name was changed to X9, Financial Services.
ANSI first granted X9 official accreditation in 1984. The official committee name became as it remains today, Accredited Standards Committee (ASC) X9, Financial Services. Since this time, ASC X9 was incorporated under a 501c6 non profit designation for associations. ASC X9, Inc. operates under its own procedures in compliance with the American National Standards Institute's Essential Requirements.
Presently, ASC X9 operates 4 technical subcommittees and 20-to-30 technical working groups developing financial industry standards and guidelines. ASC X9 is the USA Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to the International Technical Committee on Financial Services (TC 68) under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), of Geneva, Switzerland. In this role, X9 holds the USA vote on all ISO standards of TC 68 Financial Services or its subcommittees SC2- Security, SC4- Securities and SC7 - Core Banking. X9 holds the USA vote into the ISO 20022 (UNIFI) Registration Management Group (RMG) which today consists of the RMG board with Standards Evaluation Groups named as follows; Payments, Securities, Trade Finance, Foreign Exchange and Retail/Cards. For more on UNIFI go to www.iso20022.org. X9 services as the RMG Secretary as named in ISO 20022.
X9 American National Standards are widely used and recognized. Many X9 standards are either cited or required by the U.S. Federal government for use in financial procedures and transactions. In addition, X9 standards are the basis for many international standards used in facilitating global commerce. Examples of X9 standards commonly used today in the US and around the world are; paper and electronic check standards (X9 owns nearly 98% of the standardized real estate on the front and back of checks, the magnetic ink character record was originally developed by X9, the credit and debit card transactions standard operating all card transactions first developed under X9, so that we can use credit cards and ATM cards in millions of locations every day anywhere in the world without interoperability problems that would otherwise hinder their widespread use. X9 is also responsible for all numerous data security standards for financial services including the "PIN" - personal identification standard in wide use today. Other important X9 financial services standards include Data Encryption Standard (DES) and its successor Triple DES the current encryption security algorithm used in securing most banking transactions worldwide.
Anyone, member or non-member can propose the development of an X9 financial industry standard. A form is complete answering detailed questions about the proposed standard and a ballot is conducted to determine agreement to develop and determine participation.
Where appropriate, X9 proposes American National Standards to become international standards under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO's Technical Committee 68 (TC 68) Financial Services is the global counterpart to ASC X9 and works toward developing worldwide standards for all financial service providers. ASC X9 is an experienced and enthusiastic participant in the ISO-based development of standards. Within TC 68, X9 is one of more than 30 organizations assigned by participating national standards bodies who work toward global standards development.
ANSI (www.ansi.org) accredited X9 for the position of US Technical Advisory Group (US/TAG) to the ISO committee Technical Committee #68. X9 supplies US technical opinion votes on the development and adoption of international standards that support the financial industry. X9 approves delegates to represent the US in international meetings and participate in the international development process. In addition, X9 serves as the Secretariat to the ISO TC 68 - Financial Services.
In the late 1940s, members of the financial industry came together under the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to begin developing operational standards for the banking industry to use on a worldwide basis. The name of the organization working on banking standards was Technical Committee 68, or TC 68-Banking. Today, the committee is name Financial Services as most financial institutions offer a broad range of financial products. ASC X9 holds a unique position within this ISO framework. It is the Secretariat to TC 68 and is also the leader of the official United States Technical Advisory Group (TAG) which represents the US financial services industry to the international technical committee. Within TC 68 there are, at present, three technical subcommittees, or SC's: SC2, SC4, and SC7. Subcommittees prepare and manage international standards within specific areas of concentration.
Secretariat, ASC X9. "History of ASC X9". Archived from the original on 2006-10-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20061001220854/http://www.x9.org/history.shtml. Retrieved 2006-11-18. Note: Citation of copyrighted material used by permission of author. Secretariat, ASC X9. "X9 Mission Statement". Archived from the original on 2006-10-01. http://web.archive.org/web/20061001220857/http://www.x9.org/mission.shtml. Retrieved 2006-11-18. Note: Citation of copyrighted material used by permission of author.