3 July 2002: MDDL Releases Version 2.0, Adding Bond Market Coverage
The Market Data Definition Language (MDDL) working group this week released the beta of Version 2.0 of its schema, adding coverage of municipal, corporate, government and agency bonds. The group has posted the new version’s vocabulary and hierarchical relationships on the group’s web-site, and is encouraging feedback from the industry.
A spreadsheet of MDDL Version 2.0’s attributes is available at http://www.mddl.org/bennett/review.html. The new release follows a decision on the scope of 2.0 at June 18 MDDL working meeting in New York.
The schema’s sponsor – the Financial Information Services Division (FISD) of the Software and Information Industry Association – is working to deliver a functional MDDL specification to meet the application requests of the Bond Market Association’s Security Master Database Project. Version 2.1 will cover the information required to disseminate price, yield and accrued interest data and will be released shortly after 2.0.
In addition, the group made the following decisions at the June 18 meeting:
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MDDL 2.0 terms and definitions need global review and validation. FISD is appending definitions in the following order: BMA-required data elements; ISO standard terms; industry recommendations. Documentation for the vocabulary definitions is being reviewed by a small group and will be released for global review by mid-July. Richard Robinson of Deutsche Bank is the chair of the MDDL Vocabulary Committee and is managing the vocabulary process.
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FISD reinforced its commitment to incorporating MDDL terms and definitions (semantics) into the ISO 15022 data dictionary.
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Practical applications of MDDL are FISD's primary focus. The FISD says it has discussed possible pilot applications with a number of financial institutions.
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MDDL 2.0 documentation is in process. The technical specification is being edited and an implementation overview is being written. James Hartley of Reuters is the Chair of the Technical Committee.