# ICMA Bond Data Taxonomy

## Overview

| **Initiative Name**     | Bond Data Taxonomy                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Organization**        | ICMA (International Capital Market Association)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            |
| **Type**                | Standard                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| **Description**         | The ICMA Bond Data Taxonomy aims to standardize bond issuance data in a machine-readable format, starting with key economic and legal terms from a bond term sheet. The goal is to promote automation and interoperability across debt capital markets.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| **Ecosystem**           | Agnostic                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |
| **Public Participants** | Agora DCM, Allen & Overy, Arteria AI, AXA IM, Baker & McKenzie, Banco Santander, BNY Mellon, Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, Barclays, BlackRock, Bloomberg, BNP Paribas, Bond Auction, Citi, Clifford Chance, Covalent Capital, D2 Legal Technology, DBS Bank, Dealogic, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Börse / ClearStream, DirectBooks, DTCC, Euroclear, European Investment Bank (EIB), European Stability Mechanism (ESM), First Abu Dhabi Bank (PJSC), Goldman Sachs, Hong Kong Exchange, HSBC, ING Bank, IHS Markit (S\&P Global), Inveztor, KfW, King & Wood Mallesons, Linklaters, LSEG Flow, Luxembourg Stock Exchange, MTS Markets, Nasdaq, NatWest Markets, Norton Rose Fulbright, NowCM, Origin Markets, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, RBC, Refinitiv, Singapore Exchange (SGX), Simmons & Simmons LLP, SIX Digital Exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, Société Générale, SG Forge, Standard Chartered Bank, UBS, Union Investment, World Bank. |
| **Data Started**        | -                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| **Status**              | Published                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| **Link**                | <p><a href="https://youtu.be/N9e63u4QYRY">ICMA's Bond Data Taxonomy tutorial </a></p><p><a href="https://www.icmagroup.org/market-practice-and-regulatory-policy/fintech-and-digitalisation/fintech-advisory-committee-and-related-groups/bond-data-taxonomy/ "><https://www.icmagroup.org/market-practice-and-regulatory-policy/fintech-and-digitalisation/fintech-advisory-committee-and-related-groups/bond-data-taxonomy/> </a> </p>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   |

\
The ICMA Bond Data Taxonomy (ICMA BDT) was initiated by the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) to promote standardization and interoperability in bond issuance data. The BDT provides a common language and data model to represent key information found in bond term sheets and final terms in a machine-readable format. It covers over 90 familiar data fields typically seen in vanilla bond issuance, including identifiers, amounts, currencies, dates, parties, restrictions and more.

The BDT is comprised of XML schema definition files, enumerations, ISO data types. By leveraging XML and compatible ISO standards, it aims to reduce fragmentation and manual processes across the bond issuance workflow. The BDT can be integrated independently from specific technologies used.

As it continues to evolve, the ICMA BDT could become an authoritative standard for enabling automation and straight-through processing in bond issuance, settlement, and distribution. It has the potential to significantly improve efficiency and reduce risks. Organizations involved in bond markets should consider engaging with the ICMA BDT standard efforts. Adoption of its data model could help gain industry-wide interoperability.

## Analysis

<table data-header-hidden><thead><tr><th width="244">Item</th><th>Analysis</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Scope and Purpose</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Target Audience</td><td>Primary market participants including issuers, banks, investors, trading platforms, and service providers involved in bond issuance.</td></tr><tr><td>Coverage</td><td>Focuses on vanilla bond issuance data like amounts, currencies, dates, parties, restrictions etc. Scope can expand over time.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Technical Aspects</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Architecture</td><td>Uses XML schema definition (XSD) to represent data. Structured around Party, PartyRole, Issuance and Product data types. Leverages ISO data types.</td></tr><tr><td>Interoperability</td><td>XML format allows integration across systems. Could support other formats in future.</td></tr><tr><td>Security Measures</td><td>No specific measures mentioned. </td></tr><tr><td><strong>Adoption and Implementation</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Vendor-agnostic Reference Implementation</td><td>Example bond XML files, and an Excel reference sheet for usability provided.</td></tr><tr><td>Current Adopters/Vendors Implementations</td><td>?</td></tr><tr><td>Case Studies</td><td>None</td></tr><tr><td>Ease of Implementation</td><td>XML schema provides clear structure to map/ingest bond data. But production integration work needed.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Governance and Update Mechanism</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Oversight Body</td><td>ICMA Bond Data Taxonomy Working Group</td></tr><tr><td>Update Mechanism</td><td>No defined cadence mentioned but ICMA plans periodic reviews to expand scope.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Strengths and Weaknesses</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Advantages</td><td>Standard taxonomy promotes automation and interoperability for bond issuance. Extensible XML schema.</td></tr><tr><td>Challenges</td><td>Scope currently limited to vanilla bonds. Production implementation and adoption remains to be tested.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Compatibility and Integration</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Inter-standard Compatibility</td><td><p></p><ul><li>ISO 17442 Legal Entity Identifier (LEI): The global LEI system uniquely identifies parties to financial transactions. The BDT uses LEIIdentifier type for party identification.</li><li>ISO 8601 Dates and times: The BDT uses ISODate type for date fields such as issue date, first settlement date etc.</li><li>ISO 4217 Currencies: The BDT uses ISOCurrency type for currency fields like specified currency.</li><li>ISO 6166 ISIN: The BDT uses ISINIdentifier type for International Securities Identification Number fields.</li><li>ISO 10383 MIC: The BDT uses MICIdentifier type for Market Identifier Codes used in exchange codes.</li><li>ISO 9362 BIC: The BDT uses BICIdentifier type for Bank Identifier Codes of parties.</li><li>ISO 20022: The BDT references ISO 20022 defined types in some places like Max140Text.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td>Extensibility</td><td>XML schema is extensible to accommodate more use cases over time.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Community and Support</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Community Engagement</td><td>Open to all market participants but led by ICMA members currently.</td></tr><tr><td>Support Channels</td><td>ICMA website seems the main channel for support and updates.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Future Roadmap</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Next Step</td><td>None</td></tr><tr><td>Long-term Vision</td><td>Become a widely adopted open standard for bond issuance data.</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Comparative Analysis</strong></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Comparative Analysis</td><td>Comparable standards are FIX, FPML, and ISIN. BDT scope is currently more limited but focused on interoperability for issuance.</td></tr></tbody></table>

## Reviewer

We have contacted or we will contact the proposed reviewer.

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**Review status:** Not started.


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