ABN AMRO, the Dutch bank; the Argentinean Banco Galicia; UBS, a Swiss global financial services company; and the French publisher of integrated software packages, SAB, are the latest members to join the BIAN network, collaborating on standards for service-oriented architecture (SOA) in the banking industry.

The addition of ABN AMRO, Banco Galicia, SAB and UBS brings BIAN's total network membership to 31 members, comprised of 14 banks and 17 system integrators and software vendors. These industry participants collaborate within the unique BIAN community, working to define and set the de facto IT standards for banking interoperability, in order to help banks significantly reduce their IT integration costs which are as much as triple the purchase costs of the original software.

In Q1 this year, BIAN has partnered with independent standards bodies, Object Management Group (OMG) and The Open Group. In addition, BIAN has now received a 'category D liaison' with the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), for ISO 20022 semantic models. These working partnerships mark a big step forward in BIAN's commitment to complimentary standards collaboration.

Hans Tesselaar, executive director of BIAN, commented on BIAN's newest partnerships: "It is BIAN's policy not to reinvent the wheel or replicate the work of existing bodies; this is why we seek cooperation with complimentary standards bodies. For example, where BIAN focuses on semantic service definitions, OMG Service Domain Task Force focuses on standards such as financial services business ontology and vocabulary, trade transaction traceability maps and financial business events taxonomy - there is little cross-over.

"BIAN looks forward to working closely with each of the standards bodies we have partnered with at both our own BIAN Core Team meetings, and our new partners' initiatives, exchanging ideas in order to progress standardisation and interoperability in the financial industry. The door is o open to other standards bodies to form partnerships with BIAN, as we strive for a truly collaborative approach to SOA standards in banking."

Commenting on the Dutch bank's BIAN membership, Henk Houtzager, head of strategy, innovation & architecture, ABN AMRO, said: "Increasing agility and reducing costs are priorities for ABN AMRO and we expect to achieve significant reductions in integration costs through our BIAN membership. BIAN's proposition not only defines the banking services landscape, but provides practical implementation guidance shaped by leading industry technology vendors."

Eduardo Agra, chief information officer, Banco Galicia, said: "Banco Galicia was the first Argentine bank to offer mobile payments and an internet portal to its customers - we adopt revolutionary technology, to enhance our customers' banking experiences. We recognise this pioneering trait in BIAN through its pursuit of global SOA banking standards. Using BIAN's SOA standards will speed up the time-to-market for new products from Banco Galicia, keeping us at the top of our game with regards to customer service and retention."

Jean-Loup Joly, head of partnerships, SAB, said: "SAB pays particular attention to the development of joint projects with its clients in the banking sector and its partners. We are used to collaboration with clients through the SAB Users Club, a dynamic autonomous organisation. The BIAN deliverables can be seen as a 'common language' for all these joint projects and we expect that SOA components, common services and processes will bring significant gains - in both time and costs - to our clients and to SAB."

Looking towards H2 2012, BIAN expects to build on this momentum, welcoming more members to its community and releasing the much-anticipated updated BIAN Service Landscape.

Hans Tesselaar continued: "BIAN has welcomed ten new members from the bank and vendor communities over the past year, from North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. The strong momentum is a result of the growing resonance our message has achieved in the global banking market - and the domino effect as financial institutions see their peers and competitors benefiting from SOA standards. I look forward to welcoming even more new members to the BIAN community this year."