Let’s be clear about XBRL and start by saying it’s been around for more than a decade. Having had a very slow birth, after a prolonged gestation period but now the time is here when XBRL will be recognised for the genuine benefits it can bring to business communication and data processing.
I recently chaired a Corporate Actions conference in New York that had the usual agenda around inefficiencies, costs and risks in corporate actions processing. With presentations from Custodians, Investment Bankers and of course SWIFT taking their usual path, trying to hold SWIFT connectivity as the ultimate solution; despite in excess of 80% of the attending financial services firms being American buy side, who do not use SWIFT.
