What is ISO 21586 about?
ISO 21586 discusses reference data for financial services.
ISO 21586 specifies how to describe the characteristics of banking products or services (BPoS) from a customer’s perspective. Characteristics of a BPoS can be observed from different facets, called key elements, which are divided into three groups: required, optional or voluntary elements. ISO 21586 elaborates on the purpose, content and description approach for the required and optional key elements.
Six levels of conformity are described in ISO 21586 which are intended to allow a customer to assess the coverage of key elements in a BPoS. The logical and physical formats to express key elements are also defined. ISO 21586 guides the provider of BPoS in describing their products or services with the intent to help customers understand or compare specific BPoS.
Note: ISO 21586 excludes requirements of a BPoS itself and specific value ranges of any key element are out of the scope.
Who is ISO 21586 for?
ISO 21586 on banking products or services is useful for:
- Banking products or services providers
- Banking products or services customers
- Banks
- Financial institutions
- Practitioners
- Regulatory authorities
- Stakeholders
Why should you use ISO 21586?
Until the middle of the last century, most banking services had been simple and could be easily understood by common people. Services provided by different banks were similar and did not require any specific explanation. Thus, standardizing the descriptions of banking services was unnecessary at that time. This situation gradually changed with the introduction of information technology into the banking industry and the faster adoption of financial innovation. The working of banking products or services (BPoS) has become so complex that even the practitioner of its issuer cannot always explain it thoroughly and unambiguously.
It seems relatively easy to establish a specification for the description of banking products or services (BPoS). ISO 21586 helps to solve issues that arise when a specification requires several provisions of the required elements to be combined.
After defining the necessary key elements to describe banking products or services (BPoS), the next step is how to present them in an appropriate fashion. ISO 21586 provides the solution to the presentation of key elements by dealing it with at two levels: a logical tier and a physical tier. ISO 21586 provides model, high-level functional requirements, with associated explanatory information and usage guidance, for any software applications that are intended to manage digital records.
ISO 21586 benefits:
- Customers can understand the characteristics of a BPoS and make better-informed decisions;
- Practitioners can be more efficient in describing the characteristics of a BPoS using the tailoring templates
- Regulatory authorities can detect whether the information provided for a BPoS is compliant or transparent enough
