Online Derivatives Services Provider, Cygnifi, to Advance FpML Standard

NEW YORK, June 28 - Cygnifi, an independent online derivatives service provider for the financial community and corporations, announced that the FpML.org Standards Committee has appointed Cygnifi's Solutions group to advance the specification of the FpML Version 2.0 Working Draft release. This work will involve constructing formal documentation as well as validating the specification through the construction of example trades.

FpML (Financial products Markup Language) is an e-Commerce standard automating over-the-counter (OTC) trading of financial derivatives. It is based on XML (Extensible Markup Language), the standard meta-language for describing data shared between applications. All categories of OTC derivatives will eventually be incorporated into the standard.

"The derivatives industry needs a standard language to transmit information about deals efficiently," said Phil Ellis, Head of Cygnifi Global Solutions Group. "We believe FpML 2.0 will be an important step in the development of this standard language. Once derivatives become standardized, they will become less mysterious, easier to understand and much more widely used."

The FpML Version 1.0 specification, which focuses on Interest Rate Swaps and Forward Rate Agreements (FRAs), was completed in May 2001. Cygnifi uses FpML 1.0 to transmit Interest Rate Swap trade messages throughout its systems architecture, and uses extensions to the standard to cover other instruments and market data messages.

Cygnifi will be working directly with FpML.org's Interest Rate Derivatives Products Working Group, which is chaired by Guy Gurden of SwapsWire. The working group is focusing on enhancing instrument coverage for Version 2.0 of the specification to include Interest Rate Caps/Floors, Interest Rate Swaptions, Mandatory and Optional Early Swap Terminations, and Extendible/Cancellable Swaps.

"Cygnifi's previous contributions to the FpML 1.0 specification and their extensive knowledge of derivatives is what made us approach them to undertake this work," adds Guy Gurden. "Cygnifi's experience, together with their ongoing work with FpML and willingness to provide FpML-based consultancy puts them in a unique position."

About Cygnifi

Founded in February 2000, Cygnifi is an independent online derivatives services provider for the financial community and corporations. Cygnifi, a J.P. Morgan spin-off, offers easy access to sophisticated derivatives risk management capabilities as a state-of-the-art application service provider (ASP) to traders, asset managers, risk managers, corporate treasurers, and other professionals. Covering both market and credit risk, Cygnifi's on-line tools and services for pre-trade pricing, independent portfolio valuation, counterparty credit, and collateral risk management is offered to customers via subscription. Cygnifi also improves the control, transparency and understanding of the marketplace by offering access to trained professionals that can help subscribers analyze and value their portfolios Cygnifi is headquartered in New York City, with additional operations in London and Tokyo. For more information, please visit www.cygnifi.com.

About FpML.org

FpML.org (www.fpml.org) is a not-for-profit organization headquartered in New York. It is led by a Board of Directors comprised of senior derivatives business leaders from major market participants. A Standards Committee appointed by the Board is responsible for defining the approach for creating and maintaining the standard. It is comprised of representatives of financial, technology and consulting organizations. The Standards Committee's activities are accomplished through Working Groups.