7 Nov 2002: NYSE Liaises with FISD on Feedback for VRXML

The New York Stock Exchange has secured the assistance of industry group FISD in promoting its XML-based standard for reporting of market data usage. The NYSE turned to FISD to get feedback from customers on the new standard, the Vendor Reporting eXtensible Markup Language (VRXML), which it hopes will improve efficiency in reporting.

Under the current arrangement, financial institutions and market data vendors use the NYSE’s Vendor Automated Reporting System, or VARS, to report the number of users receiving the exchange’s share price information. Based on these reports, the NYSE invoices the end users for subscriptions to its market data.

However, as the marketplace has become more complex, particularly with the increase in providers offering access to share price data over the Internet, so the reporting process has become more onerous, resulting in delays and mistakes.

The NYSE has introduced VRXML in the hopes that a single standard for usage-reporting will make the process more efficient. Under the plan, vendors will be able to report direct to the exchange in VRXML, or will be able to translate data from VARS into VRXML, using a third-party NYSE spin-off called TCB Data Systems.

The VRXML standard governs formatting for user information. This includes such data as customer details, location, product, quantity, subscription start date and so on. As it promotes the standard, the NYSE will also be working with FISD to standardize aspects such as billing cycles, units of count and pro-rating of devices.

The FISD (the Financial Information Services Division of the Software & Information Industry Association) counts as its members many of the main providers of market data, as well as representatives of major client institutions. As such, it is well positioned to solicit feedback on the new standard. It is also a major sponsor of the Market Data Definition Language (MDDL).

The NYSE plans to adopt VRXML wholesale and switch to inventory-based reporting if the feedback is positive. This would mean that monthly reports would contain users’ entire inventory, rather than the moves, additions and changes currently described in the reports. The NYSE believes this will result in a more consistent process that is less prone to error.

The exchange expects that as well as streamlining the process, the adoption of VRXML will also reduce the administrative burden on the client side. This will be particularly true as VRXML is adopted for usage reporting to other exchanges as well.