Open Financial Exchange
| Filename extension | .ofx |
|---|---|
| Developed by | Microsoft, Intuit and CheckFree |
| Initial release | February 14, 1997[1] |
| Latest release | 2.1.1 |
| Container for | Financial information |
| Extended from | SGML, XML, OFC |
| Extended to | QFX |
Open Financial Exchange (OFX) is a data-stream format for exchanging financial information that evolved from Microsoft's Open Financial Connectivity (OFC) and Intuit's Open Exchange file formats.[1]
Contents |
[edit] History
The OFX standard was announced on the 16 January 1997 by Microsoft, Intuit and CheckFree and was designed as a unified technical specification to converge their respective mechanisms. The first OFX specification, version 1.0, was released on February 14, 1997.[1]
The specification allows for bank and application specific extensions, although only a subset is necessary to describe a financial transaction. Since the current version is a flavour of XML, it is simple to create well-formed OFX documents.
Versions 1.0–1.6 relied on SGML for data exchange whereas all versions since are XML based. According to the main OFX site: "The specification is freely licensed, allowing any software developer to design an interface that will be supported on the front-end."[1]
[edit] Support in various countries
Many banks in the US let customers use personal financial management software to automatically download their bank statements in OFX format. But most Canadian[2][3][4] and Australian banks do not allow this. One partial workaround is to use a personal financial management website which helps users with the downloading. An example is Buxfer; the company that runs the website offers Firebux software to help users log onto bank websites and download bank statements.[5]
[edit] Intuit and QFX
QFX is a proprietary variant of OFX used in Intuit's products. In the Intuit Products, OFX is used for Direct Connect and QFX for Web Connect. Direct Connect allows personal financial management software to connect directly to a bank OFX server, whereas in Web Connect, the user needs to login and manually download a .qfx file and import it into Quicken.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "OFX FAQ". http://www.ofx.net/AboutOFX/AboutOFX.aspx.
- ^ Reiser, David (11 March 2009). "Re: ofx info for scotiabank in canada?". gnucash-user mailing list. http://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2009-March/028950.html. Retrieved 16 January 2012. "It appears the bank regulators have struck. http://faq.quickensoftware.ca/detail.php?buid=QK&qbid=QK1054 indicates that Online Banking Booster (the Intuit name for DirectConnect in Canada) was discontinued for all Canadian banks at the end of October 2008. The banks have apparently all added additional security questions at login that Quicken can't handle, so Intuit just bailed. In the US, Intuit has pushed the use of an additional token (CLIENTUID) as suitable for satisfying regulator's insistence on multifactor authentication. It remains to be seen how well that rolls out."
- ^ "Online Banking Booster (OLBB) was discontinued on October 31, 2008. How does this affect me?". Quicken Support. Intuit Canada. 27 May 2011. http://support.intuit.ca/quicken/en-ca/iq/Online-Banking/Online-Banking-Booster-was-discontinued-on-October-31--2008-/INF15298.html. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ^ Selhi, Bylo (18 December 2007). "Re: Alternatives to Quicken". Financial Webring Forum » Under the Mattress: Protecting Your Money. Post 227689. Page 6 of 10. http://www.financialwebring.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=102426&start=125#p227689. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ^ "Help center » Firebux". Buxfer. https://www.buxfer.com/help.php?topic=Firebux. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
[edit] External links
- More information on the OFX specification
- MT2OFX: Tool for conversion between MT940, CSV, QIF, OFC, OFX and other non-binary formats
- Free OFX library
- OFX4J: Free OFX implementation in Java
- OFX Press Release (copy)
- List of OFX connection details for banks that support OFX
- .NET OFX Library
- OFX forums, list of verified OFX connection details
