IBM joins banking industry network

Launched in 2008, supporters say banking industry network (BIAN) is gathering momentum, Banking Tech reports.

In 2011, nine new members joined, and the consortium launched its new service landscape. The addition of IBM is seen as something of a landmark.

As well as becoming a full member of the BIAN community, Chae An, IBM's VP of financial services solutions, will take a position on BIAN's board.

IBM's membership is also a significant win for BIAN - and for other standards organisations that participate in BIAN - and signals the promise of accelerating maturation of the BIAN standard, Gartner notes.

The new membership of a leading vendor in BIAN sets the stage for wider participation by vendors and banks, and further erodes the position of vendors that continue to compete with proprietary models.

IBM brings expertise and, potentially, a large inventory of data, process, flow and service models, and standards for the industry.

The extent to which IBM will contribute its substantial standards work to BIAN - and the degree to which IBM will itself adopt BIAN standards versus its own proprietary standards, including Information Framework (IFW) and the Banking Industry Framework - remain to be seen.

However, Gartner expects that this association will slowly become visible as IBM products and BIAN standards converge - especially as BIAN matures.