![]()
PART I
INTRODUCING BIAN AND ITS REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE FOR THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY
What to expect
This part of the book aims to create an understanding of the BIAN Framework.
This entails two objectives:
Firstly, the reader should understand the philosophy upon which BIAN’s Reference Architecture for the Financial Industry is based and the “constructs” (techniques and organization) used to create its elemental, mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive building blocks.
Secondly, the reader will obtain an overview of what BIAN has to offer to facilitate the adoption of this Architecture. BIAN’s framework is a “toolbox” that supports financial institutions in their journey towards an agile architecture. BIAN’s Reference Architecture for the Financial Industry is the core of this framework.
Readers in a management position as well as business and application architects, need to understand the unique characteristics of the BIAN Reference Architecture and the toolbox supporting its adoption, that distinguish BIAN from other standards.
Business and application architects need a solid understanding of the principles that the Architecture is based on and of the type of “building blocks” that make up this Architecture.
![]()
1 Introducing BIAN, the organization and its Reference Architecture for the Financial Industry
This chapter introduces the BIAN organization and its Reference Architecture for the Financial Industry and how BIAN supports financial institutions in the adoption and application of its framework.
BIAN provides the financial industry with a “Reference Architecture” as a means to realize its mission and vision (Section 1.1).
To survive in these challenging times, where technology and regulations drive a drastic change in the financial ecosystem, banks need agile systems that can provide the required business agility. BIAN’s Reference Architecture is based on agile principles and supports a financial institution in the elaboration of, and migration to, an architecture that provides that necessary agility (Section 1.2).
The characteristics of the BIAN Reference Architecture provide it with a unique position compared to other standards (Section 1.3). BIAN aligns with all relevant standards. It has the ambition to provide a “common language” between different banking standards and regulations.
The BIAN organization (Section 1.4) provides a framework consisting of its Reference Architecture as well as publications, training and a certification program that support individuals and organizations to adopt its Reference Architecture. This framework evolves and keeps in touch with the reality of the financial industry through co-creation by its members, coordinated by BIAN.
■ 1.1 THE BANKING INDUSTRY ARCHITECTURE NETWORK, MISSION AND VISION
The BIAN organization was created to support financial institutions in their journey to an agile banking architecture on both an enterprise and solution level.
BIAN, the “Banking Industry Architecture Network”, offers a Banking Reference Architecture Framework that is an enabler to become an adaptive financial institution, conformant to the principles of an agile enterprise architecture.
1.1.1 The Banking Industry Architecture Network
The Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) is a global, not-for profit association of banks, solution providers, consultancy companies, integrators and academic partners with the shared aim of defining a semantic standard for the banking industry covering almost all the well-known architectural layers.
The Banking Industry Architecture Network was formed in 2008 by a group of banks and solution providers with the shared aim of defining a semantic Service Operation standard for the financial services industry. At a later stage other standards bodies, like ISO and FDX joined, along with some academic partners.
The BIAN Association strives to enhance the flexibility and agility of financial services systems by improving the integration of these with an architecture that is based on services.
1.1.2 BIAN: vision, mission and Service Landscape
BIAN’s vision and expectation is that a standard definition of business functions, service interactions and business objects that describe the general construct of any bank will be of significant benefit to the industry.
The central objectives for ICT in the banking industry are to provide flexibility, to lower the ICT and operational costs of the bank and to help banks mitigate the risks and seize the opportunities associated with technology innovation.
BIAN’s mission is to provide the world with the best banking architecture framework and banking standard. BIAN provides a trusted roadmap for constant innovation.
The goal of the BIAN Association is to develop the most important content, concepts and methods in interoperability, supporting the aim of lower integration costs in the financial services industry and facilitating business innovation and agility by:
■ Providing an architecture framework with all of the necessary elements, tools and methodologies for a sustainable operational model through the adoption of, and alignment with, available market standards;
■ Focusing on the definition of semantic services and/or API-definitions to improve the semantic integration of the financial services landscapes;
■ Enabling the financial services industry to develop and run a loosely coupled environment successfully;
■ Gaining acceptance from the members of the BIAN Association and the industry of the way the requirements will be implemented by both financial institutions and solution suppliers, resulting in the defined services becoming the de-facto-standard in the financial services industry.
1.1.3 BIAN’s Reference Architecture for the Financial Industry
BIAN’s Reference Architecture is a collection of architecture artifacts that makes up its industry standard. The main fundamental building block within the BIAN Reference Architecture is the “Service Domain”.
The BIAN Service Domains define financial services-specific semantic services. The Service Domains are the cornerstone upon which to achieve agile flexibility.
BIAN’s Service Landscape is the term used to refer to the collection of Service Domains that are defining the functional capacity building blocks within the banking industry.
The value of BIAN is the standardization of those functional services based on a well drafted architecture with elements carefully chosen from industry best practices.
It is the ambition of the BIAN Association to achieve a consensus on the service definition among leading banks and providers in the financial services industry, which in due time should lead to standardized services.
When compared to an increasing number of proprietary designs, a dedicated industry standard, like BIAN, provides the following main benefits:
■ Created by industry experts from around the globe;
■ Regular updates following the market developments and industry needs;
■ It enables a more efficient and effective development and integration of software solutions within the bank and between banks;
■ It significantly lowers the overall integration costs;
■ It improves the operational efficiency within and between banks and provides the opportunity for greater solution and capability re-use within and among banks;
■ It supports the current need for more industry integration and c...
