Intuit Inc. and Microsoft Corporation announced proposed additions to the next version of the Open Financial Exchange (OFX) specification. The new features would include 401(k) extensions, 1099 capability and transfers between brokerage accounts. In addition, the companies are proposing XML compliance in version 2.0 and intend to make the new version backward compatible with OFX 1.0.2, OFX 1.5.1 and OFX 1.6, the versions widely used by financial services companies today. Finally, Intuit and Microsoft have indicated that they will propose adding insurance data and transactions in subsequent versions of OFX. Intuit and Microsoft are actively engaged with the Interactive Financial Exchange (IFX) Working Group to support the creation and rollout of the IFX standard. At whatever point IFX becomes established and a certification process exists for high-quality implementations, Intuit and Microsoft plan to work closely with the IFX Working Group to create a migration path for existing OFX Solution Providers and to preserve the existing investment in OFX by these companies. This will be important as the number of financial institutions and technology providers that use OFX continues to grow, because OFX is here now, it works, and these companies have relied on OFX to bring their online financial services offerings to market quickly. Intuit is drafting the proposed 2.0 specification and will submit it to Microsoft and CheckFree for their review and input. Together, the three companies develop and maintain the OFX specification. Intuit is targeting release of the specification in Q1 2000. www.intuit.com, www.microsoft.com