IRML: Investment Research Markup Language

Focus: Investment Research

DTD or Schema: Not yet available. Due first quarter, 2001.

Website: www.irml.org

Contact: Warren Sample, Director of Special Projects Development.

Founding & Key Members:

  • ABN AMRO
  • AXA
  • BAM
  • Bloomberg
  • Charles Schwab & Co
  • CLSA Emerging Markets
  • Digital Capital Limited
  • Dresdner Kleinwort Benson
  • FactSet
  • Fortis Bank
  • Greenwich Associates
  • HSBC
  • JP Morgan Asset Management
  • Lehman Brothers
  • Lipper, Inc
  • Multex.com
  • Morningstar
  • Newton Investment Management
  • Reuters
  • SG Cowen
  • SIM
  • S&P
  • US Bancorp Piper Jaffray

Organization: IRML has a steering committee and three key technical working groups to focus on the specific areas of meta data, earnings estimates, and research documents.

Background: IRML was founded by Multex.com with the aim of standardizing the exchange of financial research information between the research creators, vendors and the clients, including buy side institutions, corporations, and individuals.

A challenge IRML has identified in creating the XML standard for investment research is that it has to be conversational in its format and nature, rather than traditional transactional XML applications. This requires the creation of layers of information that will provide the ability to turn a one-dimensional flat document into a multi-dimensional data set. Such a ‘layered’ approach will enable the brokers to create multiple research products aimed at different client types — institutional, consumers, and corporates — from the same core data elements.

The layers that IRML has defined are:

  • Classification or context layer: Allowing the various grouping of the document or data for distribution, access and retrieval purposes.
  • Elemental layer: Tagging of fixed data items, such as title, analyst names, recommendation, sectors, regions, and summary.
  • Analytical layer: Tagging of the analysis sections within a research document, such as emphasis, reason, recommendation, and opinion.

IRML’s intention is to create a framework that can then be evolved by industry specialists to suit their focus, for example, foreign exchange, commodities, equities, and derivatives.

The organization is taking a phased approach, with the first tactical move to involve the introduction of a draft IRML specification for the equities instrument class. This will lay the groundwork for other relevant classes of financial instruments covered by analysts.

The second, more strategic move will involve: continuing to build for the different instrument classes; establishing an industry standard Schema for investment research; forming key technical working groups necessary to evolve the standard’s initial draft prototype; and encouraging continued involvement from a diverse range of industry participants.

There is concern, however, that the efforts of IRML are being duplicated by another XML organization Research Information eXchange Markup Language (RIXML). While IRML has support from both buy and sell side institutions, it has been crafted by vendor Multex and has a large number of vendors involved. RIXML touts its heavy support from buy side institutions and its vendor neutrality.

IRML also says that its focus differs in that RIXML is focusing on classification and categorization of financial research documents, while IRML is looking at the dynamic elements of research content.

See Also:
RIXML