Citi to
Participate in XBRL US Pilot Using XBRL for Corporate Actions
XBRL Project Enters Test Phase, Will Evaluate Straight-Through
Processing (STP) Efficiencies, Shareholder Benefits
WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- XBRL US announced today that Citi is working with XBRL US Labs, the research and
development arm of XBRL US, to research the costs and benefits of transforming
corporate actions processing in a pilot program that will involve dividend
payment announcements. An impact analysis will be conducted on the
issuance of XBRL-tagged announcements, processing by banks, depositaries, and
stock exchanges, and on the ultimate usability of corporate event data by
information consumers, particularly shareholders.
“Citi is pleased to participate in this
XBRL corporate actions pilot,” said Alan Smith, Chief Operating Officer, Citi Securities and Fund Services. “As a market
leader and early adopter, we will look forward to welcoming other institutions
to help standardize financial information and achieve true
straight-through-processing and benefit our customers, the recipients of these
event announcements.”
Experts in corporate actions services at Citi
will work with XBRL US Labs and other pilot participants as part of an
initiative launched in 2009 by XBRL US, the Depository Trust and Clearing
Corporation (DTCC) and SWIFT to use XBRL to reduce corporate actions' cost and
time, and to improve data quality. The initiative published a business
case in May of this year, (http://xbrl.us/i2i/pages/businesscase.aspx) and has developed an XBRL taxonomy based on the ISO
20022 standard, which is scheduled for an early October release on the XBRL US
website for public review, testing, and comment, (www.xbrl.us).The pilot
is designed to test the premise that the use of structured, computer-readable
data can streamline the process and introduce straight-through-processing
(STP).
"Citi's collaboration in this pilot
will help to demonstrate how a large amount of information can be more easily,
accurately and efficiently consumed, saving money and time and ultimately
getting critical information to investors", said David Hands, Director,
Product Development, DTCC. "We look forward to following this ADR-based
pilot with another program focusing on US-based issuers early in 2011."
Initial efforts will focus on tests on dividend announcements
issued by American Depositary Receipts (ADRs). ADRs are
US securities based on foreign shares that are received and processed by
depositary banks such as Citi. Announcements
about ADRs are transmitted from Citi to
stock exchanges, investors, depositories such as the DTCC, and other
intermediaries. The ADR dividend announcement process was selected
by Citi and XBRL US Labs as a good test for XBRL
because corporate actions announcements from ADRs are concentrated
among a relatively small number of depositary banks, and rely on
significant hard copy transmittals and re-keying. The pilot will use the XBRL
ISO 20022 taxonomy, or dictionary, to create XBRL-formatted documents that
will be used directly by downstream users.
"This collaboration further demonstrates the readiness of ISO
20022, the flexibility of XBRL and the relevance of these standards for the
global financial services industry", said Karla McKenna, Director, Citi Securities and Fund Services, and Chair of the
International Organization for Standardization's technical committee
for the financial services industry, ISO TC 68.
To learn more, go to http://xbrl.us/research/Pages/CorporateActions.aspx.
About Citi
Citi, the
leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million
customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and
jurisdictions. Through Citicorp and Citi Holdings, Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and
institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including
consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities
brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information
may be found at www.citigroup.com
or www.citi.com.
About XBRL US
XBRL US is the non-profit consortium for XML business reporting
standards in the U.S. and it represents the business information supply chain.
Its mission is to support the implementation of XML business reporting
standards through the development of taxonomies for use by U.S. public and
private sectors, with a goal of interoperability between sectors, and by
promoting XBRL adoption through marketplace collaboration. XBRL US has
developed taxonomies for U.S. GAAP, credit rating and mutual fund reporting
under contract with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. XBRL US Labs,
the research and development arm of XBRL US, leverages the XBRL US platform,
methodologies and people to address the quality of taxonomies and the
harmonization of XBRL with other XML standards. For more information, go to www.xbrl.us.
CONTACT: Michelle Savage of XBRL US, +1-917-747-1714, michelle.savage@xbrl.us, or Duncan
Smith of Citi, +1-212-816-8024, duncan.smith@citi.com