RIXML: Research Information eXchange Markup Language

Focus: Investment Research 

DTD or Schema: Version 1.0 schema available for comments at www.rixml.org

Website: www.rixml.org

Contact: contactus@rixml.com

Founding & Key Members:

  • American Century Investments
  • American Express Financial
  • Capital Group
  • Fidelity Investments
  • Putnam Investments
  • T. Rowe Price
  • Credit Suisse First Boston/DLJ
  • Deutsche Bank
  • Goldman, Sachs & Co.
  • JP Morgan
  • Lehman Brothers
  • Merrill Lynch
  • Morgan Stanley
  • Paine Webber
  • Salomon Smith Barney
  • UBS Warburg

Organization: RIXML is overseen by a steering committee. This committee is co-chaired by David Seibert of T. Rowe Price and Joseph Sommer of Credit Suisse First Boston/DLJ.

Its standards committee is co-chaired by Chris Betz of Morgan Stanley and Ellen Callahan of Fidelity Investments. RIXML also has a technical committee responsible for creating schemas. Within each of these committees is a number of working groups. 

In March 2001, RIXML introduced an Associate Membership category to enable third-party service and technology providers, consulting firms and additional buy- and sell-side firms to have a say in the evolution of the RIXML standard.

Background: RIXML was formed in the first half of 2000 to standardize the exchange of investment research between the brokers and their asset manager clients using XML. In March 2001 it released its first version specification for comments and expects to have a finalized version, based on feedback, ready by May. 

The initial focus of RIXML is on equity research, and covers some areas of monetary policy and economics. Once this is underway, the group will consider other asset classes of investment research, such as fixed income securities.

Thomson Financial’s First Call had been an early mover in developing an initial DTD for investment research. However, a number of firms were working on the development of the RIXML concept at the same time, which they intended to be vendor-neutral. First Call has since abandoned its own DTD version, which it had developed with a company named B-Bop, and now supports RIXML.

Although vendors were not involved in this initiative for its first year, in March 2001, RIXML created an Associate Membership category to enable vendors to help unify the vendor’s feedback.

RIXML reorganized to become a limited liability company and in order to support its projects joining fees are $20,000 for buy side membership, and $110,000 for sell side membership. Vendors are now charged $25,000 for the first year. Over $1 million has so far been contributed to fund the development effort.

The organization selected KPMG to facilitate the development of the DTD and handle all logistics related to collecting and documenting the necessary data from firms.

There is concern in the industry, however, that RIXML is overlapping with another XML initiative Investment Research Markup Language (IRML). IRML was originally developed by First Call rival Multex, but has now expanded to include buy and sell side firms. RIXML believes it has an advantage in the support it receives from the buy side.

See Also:
IRML