Currently, an interest rate authority is classified as a kind of AgentInRole, although its definition is “an authority responsible for the publication of some interest rate”. It is also a subclass of a restriction that states that it “sets some ReferenceRate”.

In IND, the concept of a FinancialInformationPublisher already exists, which should be a parent of this class. An interest rate publisher is also a financial services provider, as stated in the explanatory notes, and especially if this concept represents an organization that sets reference rates.

Further, the notion of a central bank is a first class concept in the FIBO FBC specification, and should not be duplicated / buried in the interest rate publishers ontology (which may extend the FBC definition as needed). Both CentralBank and MonetaryAuthority in the Interest Rate Publishers ontology should extend definitions in FBC, of functional entities, rather than create new independent parties herein for the same purpose.

Interest rate authority and central bank are misclassified in the Interest Rate Publishers ontology

Currently, an interest rate authority is classified as a kind of AgentInRole, although its definition is “an authority responsible for the publication of some interest rate”. It is also a subclass of a restriction that states that it “sets some ReferenceRate”.

In IND, the concept of a FinancialInformationPublisher already exists, which should be a parent of this class. An interest rate publisher is also a financial services provider, as stated in the explanatory notes, and especially if this concept represents an organization that sets reference rates. Thus, it should extend the concept of FinancialServicesProvider from FBC (which did not exist when this ontology was originally developed). In addition, the resolution to issue FIBOIND-6 revised the name of the ReferenceRate class to ReferenceInterestRate, so any dependency in this ontology on that concept must be revised accordingly.

Further, the notion of a central bank is a first class concept in the FIBO FBC specification, and should not be duplicated / buried in the interest rate publishers ontology (which may extend the FBC definition as needed). Both CentralBank and MonetaryAuthority in the Interest Rate Publishers ontology should extend definitions in FBC, of functional entities, if required, rather than create new independent parties herein for the same purpose.

This issue affects section 9.4.2 Interest Rate Publishers Ontology in the FIBO IND 1.0 Beta 2 specification. It depends on the resolution to FIBOIND-6.

The corresponding changes to the FIBO FBC specification with respect to the addition of MonetaryAuthority and modification of the current definition of CentralBank have been filed in a resolution to issue FIBOFBC-1, which has been resolved in the FBC FTF simultaneously with this IND FTF report.

Currently, IND includes a hierarchy as follows:
Measure (from FND/Utilities/Analytics)
– MarketRate
---- ExchangeRate
---- ReferenceRate
– Statistical Measure (from FND/Utilities/Analytics)
---- EconomicIndicator
---- MarketSpread
---- Volatility
ReferenceRate has children that are all kinds of interest rates, but there is no higher level interest rate class since most interest rates are not reference rates, and certain exchange rates can also be reference rates, but not all are reference rates.

What is needed is to create (1) a high-level class called Rate as a child of Measure, (2) children of Rate that include InterestRate, ExchangeRate, MarketRate, and ReferenceRate, and (3) in cases where the relevant rates are also reference rates, make them children of ReferenceRate and/or add a property that indicates that a given Rate is in fact a reference rate.

This issue has been partially addressed in FIBO FND 1.1, wherein a new Rate class as well as higher level classes for InterestRate and ExchangeRate have been added, but the IND ontologies need revision to take advantage of these modifications.

Interest rates and exchange rates should be moved to a higher level of abstraction

Currently, IND includes a hierarchy as follows:
Measure (from FND/Utilities/Analytics)
– MarketRate
---- ExchangeRate
---- ReferenceRate
– Statistical Measure (from FND/Utilities/Analytics)
---- EconomicIndicator
---- MarketSpread
---- Volatility

ReferenceRate has children that are all kinds of interest rates, but there is no higher level interest rate class since most interest rates are not reference rates, and certain exchange rates can also be reference rates, but not all are reference rates.

What is needed is to create (1) a high-level class called Rate as a child of Measure, (2) children of Rate that include InterestRate, ExchangeRate, MarketRate, and ReferenceRate, and (3) in cases where the relevant rates are also reference rates, make them children of ReferenceRate and/or add a property that indicates that a given Rate is in fact a reference rate.

This issue was partially addressed in the FIBO FND 1.1 specification, with the addition of Rate, InterestRate, and ExchangeRate, but the corresponding revisions are needed in the FIBO IND specification.

Section 8 describes the ontology architecture and specifies the URIs for all of the ontologies in the specification. This section is not only out of date with respect to the IND specification, but includes old material for the specifications on which it depends, namely, FND and BE, and is missing the corresponding material on FBC.

The FTF recommends removing material specifying the URIs for the specs on which IND depends, and updates the material pertinent to IND.

Clause 8, Architecture is significantly out of date

Section 8 describes the ontology architecture and specifies the URIs for all of the ontologies in the specification. This section is not only out of date with respect to the IND specification, but includes old material for the specifications on which it depends, namely, FND and BE, and is missing the corresponding material on FBC.

The FTF recommends removing material specifying the URIs for the specs on which IND depends, and updates the material pertinent to IND.

This issue applies to Section 8, Architecture in the IND specification and does not impact any machine readable content. It does, however, provide wrong and extraneous information regarding content in other FIBO specifications that should be eliminated, and is out of date with respect to IND itself.

The Indicators ontology includes the general notion of a market rate, which can have either a date or date-time stamp associated with it. At least two refinements of this concept are important from a market valuation perspective and are tracked by banks to support data governance, including daily average rate quotes and end of day rates. These two concepts need to be added to the ontology to make it more useful to the community.

In addition, the definition of TermStructure is poorly defined with respect to how it fits in with the overall notion of a market rate, and would not be sufficient to support modeling of yield curves as it stands. A refinement on the definition of term structure to model it as a structured collection of rates would provide a starting point that can be further refined as FIBO ontologies for bonds or instruments based on market rates are integrated and tested.

Finally, the definition of a quoted exchange rate in the Foreign Exchange ontology, which depends on the definition of market rate in the Indicators ontology, is too narrow, and should be generalized to eliminate the restriction in the text of the definition that it should settled at a defined point in time in the future. Exchange rates can be forward looking or retrospective, so this is overly constraining.

Additional concepts refining the concept of a market rate are needed to distinguish daily averages and end-of-day quotes

The Indicators ontology includes the general notion of a market rate, which can have either a date or date-time stamp associated with it. At least two refinements of this concept are important from a market valuation perspective and are tracked by banks to support data governance, including daily average rate quotes and end of day rates. These two concepts need to be added to the ontology to make it more useful to the community.
In addition, the definition of TermStructure is poorly defined with respect to how it fits in with the overall notion of a market rate, and would not be sufficient to support modeling of yield curves as it stands. A refinement on the definition of term structure to model it as a structured collection of rates would provide a starting point that can be further refined as FIBO ontologies for bonds or instruments based on market rates are integrated and tested.

Finally, the definition of a quoted exchange rate in the Foreign Exchange ontology, which depends on the definition of market rate in the Indicators ontology, is too narrow, and should be generalized to eliminate the restriction in the text of the definition that it should settled at a defined point in time in the future. Exchange rates can be forward looking or retrospective, so this is overly constraining.

Section 9.1Overview, in the IND is obsolete and conflicts with and is less informative than the revised information incorporated into section 6 via the resolution to issue FIBOIND-15, and should be removed.

Section 9.1, Introduction, is obsolete

Section 9.1Overview, in the IND is obsolete and conflicts with and/or is less informative than the revised information incorporated into section 6 via the resolution to issue FIBOIND-15, and should be removed.

This issue applies to Section 9.1, Overview in the IND specification and does not impact any machine readable content. It does, however, provide an obsolete description of the information contained in the rest of the document and should be eliminated.

Section 7.1, Audiences, in the IND is redundant and less informative than the revised information incorporated into section 6 via the resolution to issue FIBOIND-15, and should be removed.

Section 7, Introduction, contains redundant information

Section 7.1, Audiences, in the IND is redundant and less informative than the revised information incorporated into section 6 via the resolution to issue FIBOIND-15, and should be removed.

This issue applies to Section 7.1, Audiences in the IND specification and does not impact any machine readable content. It depends on the resolution to issue FIBOIND-15.

Section 6 in the IND specification does not describe the audiences for the specification, as the other FIBO specs do, and does not include the latest information with respect to the notation used in the body of the document.

Section 6, Additional Information, is obsolete

Section 6 in the IND specification does not describe the audiences for the specification, as the other FIBO specs do, and does not include the latest information with respect to the notation used in the body of the document.

This issue applies to Section 6, Additional Information in the IND specification and does not impact any machine readable content.

Currently, the IND specification normative references section is out of date – the table should be replaced with one that is more current, corresponding to what is in the other FIBO specifications.

The normative references section of the specification is out of date and should be updated

Currently, the IND specification normative references section is out of date – the table should be replaced with one that is more current, corresponding to what is in the other FIBO specifications.

This issue applies to the References section of the specification, and specifically sub-section 3.1 Normative References, and does not impact any machine readable content.

Currently, the IND specification conformance section describes conformance points that are no longer relevant (i.e., they are no longer representative of the current FIBO FND, BE, or FBC specifications and the current approach for FIBO generally). The text should be revised to reflect the current approach to conformance as defined in other FIBO specifications.

The conformance section of the specification reflects an out of date approach to conformance for FIBO and should be updated

Currently, the IND specification conformance section describes conformance points that are no longer relevant (i.e., they are no longer representative of the current FIBO FND, BE, or FBC specifications and the current approach for FIBO generally). The text should be revised to reflect the current approach to conformance as defined in other FIBO specifications.

This issue is applies to the text of the Conformance section of the specification, and specifically sub-section 2.2 Conformance Points, and does not impact any machine readable content.

Currently, the IND specification introduction references an approach to representation of the ontologies from an early FIBO perspective, and is no longer in line with the most recent updates to FND or the other specifications. The text should be revised to reflect the current approach.

The introduction to the specification reflects an out of date overview of FIBO and IND and should be updated

Currently, the IND specification introduction references an approach to representation of the ontologies from an early FIBO perspective, and is no longer in line with the most recent updates to FND or the other specifications. The text should be revised to reflect the current approach.

This issue affects the Scope section of the specification, including sub-sections 1.1 Overview, 1.2 Scope of Financial Industry Business Ontologies: Indices and Indicators, and 1.3 Definitions, only, and does not impact any machine readable content.

The current representation of economic indicator is underspecified, and needs to include reference and reporting periods, at a minimum. Definitions for statistical universe, statistical population in the context of a statistical program are also required, to provide the context for a given indicator, with revisions to the definitions of specific indicators, such as unemployment rate, that leverage this more general pattern.

Need a better representation for general economic indicators

The current representation of economic indicator is underspecified, and needs to include reference and reporting periods, at a minimum. Definitions for statistical universe, statistical population in the context of a statistical program are also required, to provide the context for a given indicator, with revisions to the definitions of specific indicators, such as unemployment rate, that leverage this more general pattern.

This issue applies to Section 9.5.1, Ontology: Economic Indicators and Section 9.5.2, Ontology: Economic Indicator Publishers in the IND specification and its resolution depends on the resolution of FIBOIND-6 and FIBOIND-22 as well as on the resolution to the issues resolved by the FIBO FBC FTF concurrently. It involves extensive revision to the definitions for economic indicator generally and to the definitions for a number of specific indicators, as well as the introduction of a number of new classes, based on FTF work supported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and Statistics Canada, who publish these indicators over the course of the FTF 2 and 3 working groups. The resulting ontologies are currently in test and our goal over the course of the RTF is to continue to refine them to the point that they can be used for mark-up by the statistics agencies for publication purposes. The FTF believes that the top level economic indicator definition that has come out of this effort is now sufficient for that purpose as well as to support analysis and definition of economic derivatives as needed for other FIBO specifications.

The resolution to this issue also incorporates two small ontologies that are intended to be expanded over time, representing customization of the primary Economic Indicators ontology for the United States and Canada.

Note that the tables in the specification are also replaced with the resolution to this issue, to clean them up at the same time to reflect the current documentation approach for FIBO. Also, because this work is still under FTF rather than RTF, any deprecated terms or properties are being eliminated to clean things up prior to formalization.

The FTF determined that removing deprecated elements prior to RTF was appropriate for IND in order to limit confusion. This has been done for all of the other ontologies in IND, but the InterestRates ontology had not been revised since April, and thus this aspect of the revision was missed.

In addition, the table format for the ontology details should be revised to reflect the format of the other ontology tables in the specification.

Eliminate deprecated elements from the Interest Rates ontology and reformat table per the other resolutions

The FTF determined that removing deprecated elements prior to RTF was appropriate for IND in order to limit confusion. This has been done for all of the other ontologies in IND, but the InterestRates ontology had not been revised since April, and thus this aspect of the revision was missed.

In addition, the table format for the ontology details should be revised to reflect the format of the other ontology tables in the specification.

This issue affects section 9.4.1 Interest Rates Ontology in the FIBO IND 1.0 Beta 2 specification. It depends on the resolution to FIBOIND-6.

The definition for "sets" in Table 9.11 incorrectly defines the range for the property to be AgentInRole, when, in fact it is the domain of the property that is AgentInRole, with no value for the range. The table should be revised accordingly.

Correct typo in the properties section of Table 9.11, Interest Rate Publishers Ontology Details for the property "sets"

Correct a typo in Table 9.11, for the definition for the property "sets". This problem crept in in the resolution to issue IND-8, with the introduction of the new table format.

Three ontologies were not modified by broader issue resolutions for IND, but their version IRIs and dependsOn properties were revised in the metadata for the ontologies via issue FIIF-2. These changes should be reflected in the proper tables in the IND Beta 2 specification.

Version IRIs and related ontology metadata need updating for 3 IND ontologies

Chapter 9, Sections 9.2.1, 9.4.2, and 9.5.2, Tables 9.2, 9.10, and 9.15 only, and has no impact on the machine-readable files, which were revised by FIIF-2. In each table, the versionIRI and dependsOn properties should be revised.

Namespace prefixes for several ontologies added in FND FTF-2 are missing from the table, iincluding those for the Arrangements module ontologies

Table 8.2 in Section 8.3 is missing prefixes for FND ontologies added in FTF-2

This issue affects section 8.3, Table 8.2 only, and has no impact on the machine-readable files. Several ontologies were added to FND during FTF-2 whose namespace prefixes are not included in the table and should be added.

Interest rates, economic indicators, and foreign exchange indices and indexes need revision to eliminate reasoning errors due to modifications of the way percentages are represented in FND. Percentage was made a class, and what these three ontologies refer to is now a percentageValue datatype. They should be reviewed to correct the reasoning error.

Other issues include the need to use the FinancialDates ontologies rather than xsd string-based dates, and corrections due to changes in the domain or range or namespace of properties in FND that have a downstream reasoning impact on IND.

Eliminate reasoning error due to changes in FND

A number of issues were created in IND when properties were moved around in FND FTF-2, including but not limited to moving properties from Relations to Agents, revising the definition of Percentage, changing the domain or range of properties, and so forth. The revisions to EconomicIndicators, ForeignExchange, and InterestRates, attached, address these issues.

The strategy for metadata and syntax for the headers in the OWL files for BE and FND was modified, and the IND ontologies need to reflect this new strategy. This includes: (1) elimination of the default URI, (2) removing redundant imports and only retaining imports for those ontologies that are directly referenced in the ontology in question, and (3) elimination of redundant specification metadata now included in the about files.

This issue addresses these three sets of changes, which affect the machine readable files but not the specification text per se. The only impact on the text may be the list of ontologies on which a given ontology depends, but that should be checked on a case by case basis.

Need to resolve syntactic issues in IND ontologies

The following changes were made to the individual ontologies for IND, without requiring any change to the specification itself: (1) default namespaces were removed, (2) eliminate redundant imports, and (2) eliminate redundant metadata.

The original FIBO IND specification was created before we migrated to a metadata strategy that included "about" files. These are needed for IND.

Note that this issue affects the machine readable files for IND only, not the specification itself.

About files are needed for the FIBO Indices and Indicators (IND) Specification

Create a complete set of "about" files for IND – one at the specification level, one at the specification version level, and one for each module. These will faciliate streamlining metadata for the individual ontologies, provide a tool for importing all of the IND ontologies including those in the imports chain, and can be used to mark-up specification pages about the specification itself.