XML, ASN.1, or both?

By virtue of being text-based / human-readable, XML is inheritently slow and big. Implementers often look for ad-hoc solutions to get smaller messages, which then require that communicating parties agree ahead of time what "language" they will use.

Standardized binary messages, such as ASN.1, provide the necessary "lingua franca" required by ISO 20022 implementations, without sacrificing performance.

And there is more! ASN.1 binary encodings and XML encodings are compatible - for example, XML could be used for data visualization and ASN.1 for actual transmission.

 

ISO 20022 and ASN.1

ISO 20022 is an international standard that aims to enhance communication interoperability between financial institutions, their market infrastructures, and their end-user communities.

ISO 20022 defines a unified standardization approach, which consists of a common development methodology, a common process, and a common repository that are open for use by all financial standards initiatives.

To find out more about the role of ASN.1 in ISO 20022, go to the official ISO 20022 website, where you can, among others:

• check the ISO 20022 FAQ;
• request a copy of "ISO 20022 For Dummies" book that explains the use of ASN.1 in ISO 20022;
• read about ISO 20022 Detailed Registration Procedures;
• read about creating the proper Business Justification Template, in which you ask the ISO 20022 Registration Authority to use your ISO 20022 models to generate messages in ASN.1 (instead of, or in addition to XML);

and more.

The first edition of ISO 20022 (2004) included rules for automatically generating an XML schema from a message model. In the new edition of the standard (2013), analogous rules for automatically generating an ASN.1 schema were added. Therefore both XML Schema and ASN.1 are now directly supported by ISO 20022.