19 July 2002: NYSE Drafts XML Standard for Data Reporting

The New York Stock Exchange is working on an XML standard to cover vendor reporting of market data usage. The system, slated for introduction by the end of the year, appears to be the next generation of its Vendor Automated Reporting System (VARS).

The new system – Vendor Reporting eXtensible Markup Language (VRXML) – will initially be used to deal with NYSE vendor reporting obligations. However, the idea is for it to be extended later to cover a broader set of industry requirements.

Among the possible applications under consideration are value-added services for vendors and their clients, and interoperability with industry-accepted data transfer methodologies for straight-through-processing.

Market data vendors, such as Reuters, Bloomberg, Thomson and Moneyline Telerate, are obliged to report the usage of exchange-generated data by their clients. In this way, the exchanges are able to levy accurate charges to end-users for their data.

The NYSE is working with the Financial Information Services Division (FISD) of the Software & Information Industry Association to gather comments from the industry.