Editing Open Financial Exchange

{{Short description|Financial information file format}}
{{Infobox file format
| name          = Open Financial Exchange
| icon          = 
| logo          = 
| screenshot    = 
| caption       = 
| extension     = {{mono|.ofx}}
| mime          = 
| type code     = 
| uniform type  = 
| magic         = 
| owner         = [[Microsoft]], [[Intuit]] and [[CheckFree]]
| released      = February 14, 1997<ref name="ofx.net">{{cite web |title=Open Financial Exchange FAQ |url=http://www.ofx.net/faq.html|access-date=October 22, 2020}}</ref>
| latest release version = 2.3<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ofx.net/ |title=OFX.net |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=<!--Not stated--> |access-date=<!--Not stated--> |quote=<!--Not stated--> |archive-date=2024-11-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241130112300/http://www.ofx.net/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| latest release date = 
| genre         = 
| container for = [[Finance|Financial information]]
| contained by  = 
| extended from = [[Standard Generalized Markup Language|SGML]], [[XML]], OFC
| extended to   = [[QFX (file format)|QFX]]
| standard      = 
| url           = 
}}

'''Open Financial Exchange''' ('''OFX''') is a [[Data stream|data-stream format]] for exchanging [[Finance|financial]] information that evolved from [[Microsoft]]'s [[Open Financial Connectivity]] (OFC) and [[Intuit]]'s Open Exchange file formats.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=OFX Work Group - FAQ's |url=https://www.financialdataexchange.org/FDX/FDX/About/OFX-Work-Group.aspx?WebsiteKey=deae9d6d-1a7a-457b-a678-8a5517f8a474&a315d1c24e44=3 |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=Financial Data Exchange |language=en}}</ref>

==History==
Microsoft, Intuit and [[CheckFree]] announced the OFX standard on 16 January 1997. The first OFX specification, version 1.0, was released on 14 February 1997.<ref name=":0" /> The specification allows for bank- and application-specific extensions, although only a subset is necessary to describe a financial transaction.

Versions 1.0 through 1.6 relied on [[Standard Generalized Markup Language|SGML]] for data exchange, but later versions are [[XML]] based. In 2019, the OFX consortium joined the Financial Data Exchange (FDX) consortium that now manages the OFX specification.<ref name=":OFXWG">{{Cite web | title=About-FDX - OFX Work Group | url=https://financialdataexchange.org/FDX/About/About-FDX.aspx?WebsiteKey=deae9d6d-1a7a-457b-a678-8a5517f8a474&hkey=dffb9a93-fc7d-4f65-840c-f2cfbe7fe8a6&a315d1c24e44=5#a315d1c24e44 | access-date=2025-04-27 | website=financialdataexchange.org}}</ref> The latest reference [[Functional Specification|document]] was published in October 2020.

==OFX Uses==
Many United States banks let customers use personal financial management software to automatically import their bank transaction using the OFX protocol. However, most Canadian, United Kingdom and Australian banks do not allow this. Nonetheless, many banks do support downloading financial data in the [[QFX (file format)|OFX file format]], the [[Quicken Interchange Format|QIF file format]], or the spreadsheet format via their web interface. The resulting file may be imported into financial software.

==Intuit and QFX==
QFX is a proprietary variant of OFX used in Intuit's products. In 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's OFX server. With Web Connect, the user needs to log in and manually download a .qfx file and import it into Quicken.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Connectivity Types - OFX |url=https://www.intuit.com/partners/fdp/implementation-support/ofx/why-connect/connectivity-types/ |access-date=12 March 2023 |website=Intuit}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Quicken Interchange Format]]
* [[ISO 20022]]
* [[FinTS|FinTS (formerly HBCI)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://financialdataexchange.org/FDX/About/OFX-Work-Group.aspx More information on the OFX specification]
* [http://money.mvps.org/faq/article/259.aspx OFX Press Release] (copy)
* [http://ofxblog.wordpress.com/ List of OFX connection details for banks that support OFX]
* [http://www.ofxhome.com/ OFX forums, list of verified OFX connection details]
* [http://www.whiterocksoftware.com/2019/03/download-ofx-free-viewer.html OFX file viewer]

{{accounting software}}

[[Category:Computer file formats]]
[[Category:Computer-related introductions in 1997]]
[[Category:Financial software]]