Standards bodies embrace blockchain
Blockchain needs standards
A FinTech Technical Advisory Group has been established by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) TC68 Financial Services Committee. ISO has also just recently approved a new blockchain committee.
“Most fintech firms wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the internet, which relies on standards, so they get the need for standardisation and understand how they need it to grow on a global scale,” said Stephen Lindsay, Swift’s head of standards, during the opening of the Standards Forum.
Carlos Philippen, head of operations at local Zürcher Kantonalbank and a member of the Swiss Commission for Financial Standards said his organisation was undertaking a drive to strengthen the involvement of fintech players in standards development. “It is important to engage them as many banks are outsourcing development to them.”
The decision to set up a FinTech Technical Advisory Group and new communications team is part of a wider planned reorganisation of the over-arching ISO TC68 committee, which is ditching its previous three-pronged structure comprising securities, core banking/payments and security groups – subject to a vote in November.
Karla McKenna, chair of the group, said: “We’ve taken some of these reorganisation decisions but still have a bit of work to do.”
By Neil Ainger, Daily News at Sibos reporter
