About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

XBRL Falls Off the US Regulatory Checklist, What Will This Mean for Data Management?

Subscribe to our newsletter

One of the stranger happenings during the lengthy US reform negotiation process was that a provision to require the use of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) for financial data reporting was unexpectedly struck from the financial regulation reform bill, which was passed this week. Given that XBRL is being touted as the next big thing for data management efficiency and players such as Swift and the DTCC are keen to extend its reach into the world of corporate actions, what will this rather strange regulatory development mean?

The XBRL provision was dropped out of the Senate version of the bill without explanation and much to the consternation of key proponent representative Darryl Issa, who has since vowed to bring the XBRL provision before the full House for a separate vote.

The amendment Issa originally proposed for the Dodd-Frank bill would have required regulators to use a standard electronic format such as XBRL only for a few types of transactions, collecting and publishing business information from the financial industry. However, Issa withdrew his original proposal to work on an expanded version with the staff of the House Financial Services chairman Barney Frank. The new proposal would have affected almost every aspect of financial data collection in the regulatory overhaul bill, but it has since been canned.

The omission of the provision will, no doubt, also go down like a lead balloon with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which has been a key proponent of the data tagging standard since its passing of a rule in December to require XBRL reporting for financial disclosures. XBRL has also garnered the attention of European regulators and the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) most recently noted its potential in the area of risk data reporting.

Swift, XBRL US and DTCC will also take note of the development due to their project to introduce XBRL to the corporate actions space. Last month, they published their business case to this end, which indicated that the introduction of XBRL to this corner of the market could result in an estimated saving for the industry of US$400 million a year and potential direct savings to investors and their investment managers of US$172 million annually.

Given their championship of the standard thus far, it is unlikely that the political machinations involved in the putting together of the reform bill will deter XBRL’s proponents in the long term. Issa is certainly determined to get it back on the political agenda and the SEC will ensure it remains on the regulatory agenda for the near future.

As for its future in Europe, that’s anyone’s guess at this point. Swift and other parties may be keen, but there are many that feel XBRL is not an appropriate format for these markets.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: How to simplify and modernize data architecture to unleash data value and innovation

The data needs of financial institutions are growing at pace as new formats and greater volumes of information are integrated into their systems. With this has come greater complexity in managing and governing that data, amplifying pain points along data pipelines. In response, innovative new streamlined and flexible architectures have emerged that can absorb and...

BLOG

The Data Year Ahead: More Data Formats and Use Cases

In the second part of our preview of the next 12 months in data management, we take in the views of experts who offered Data Management Insight their thoughts on a range of developments, including the increased use of unstructured data, the wider application of data sets and distribution challenges. 1 Data Governance, Quality and Technologies Ian...

EVENT

TradingTech Briefing New York

Our TradingTech Briefing in New York is aimed at senior-level decision makers in trading technology, electronic execution, trading architecture and offers a day packed with insight from practitioners and from innovative suppliers happy to share their experiences in dealing with the enterprise challenges facing our marketplace.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...