Abstract

This article describes the fifteen fundamental concepts of the Financial Industry Business Data Model.

• For Data Architects, the concepts are key to understanding, scoping, and customizing FIB-DM.
• Business Users and Subject Matter Experts find FIB Concept Maps easier to work with than data model diagrams and ontology graphs.
• Ontologists new to FIBO face challenges as data modelers and can easily leverage this article for their FIBO work.

The business concepts, with their icons, shorthand, definitions, and overview diagrams, are the central theme of FIB-DM training and education PowerPoints, Videos, and on-site classes.

FIB-DM / FIBO on one page

The conceptual diagram with the Aspect (ASP) on top resembles a house.

At the center stands the Situation (SIT), which relates to a Role (R) played by an Agent (A). In a Loan Agreement, for example, a person plays the Role of the borrower. As with the principal, various Scalar Values (SVs) pertain to the Loan. Some values have a Specification (SP); for example, the Loan-to-Value Ratio is an expression. The Loan has a payment schedule defined in Constituent (CST). An Account (ACT) keeps track of the Loan balance and payments.

The Temporal Element (TE) holds dates about the Account, the Person, and the Loan Agreement. The Account has a number and a Designation (D) in the FIBO and FIB-DM. Examples of Documents (DOC) are the identification (e.g., a Driver’s License) of the person taking out the loan. The signed paper copy of the Loan Agreement is also a Document. The Aspect (ASP) classifies various other concepts in the FIBO and its data model. Arrangements define a set of Aspects. Occurrences (OCC) are also known as events; the default, for example, is a loan event. The Collection (COL) group Constituents. For example, our Loan ends up in a Pool for securitization. At the bottom of the diagram, “in the basement,” are the less frequently used concepts: Product (PRD), Service (SVC), Legal Construct (LC), Location (LOC), and Facility (FAC).

Significance for the data model and ontology

A gigantic, 3212-entity data model is hard to comprehend, even for senior data modelers. The FIB-DM education course and data model resources teach the model from two angles: the 220 packages (a.k.a. subject areas) and a structural approach that examines deep entity hierarchies.

All concepts are Ultimate Supertype Entities in the FIBO Data Model. In other words, they are not subtypes (a.k.a. inheritance or generalization) of any other data model entity. They are also the 15 ultimate supertypes with the most subtypes—the most extensive hierarchies. The concept entities also have the most relationships with Associative Entities, which connect them to other model entities. The first concept, the Situation (SIT), has 11 hierarchical levels and 1,1271 subtypes, and connects to 795 other data model entities.

Once the data modeler is familiar with the concepts and associative entity design patterns, she can easily understand unfamiliar entities and navigate or scope their related content.

Many FIBO ontologists prefer FIB-DM diagrams to graphs because data modeling tools are more potent than ontology editors.
An isomorphism exists between a subset of Ontology Web Language (OWL) and the Entity-Relationship Model (ERM). FIB-DM is an ontology-derived data model, and the patented (US120389039) process fully transforms FIBO classes, properties, and class restrictions.

Hence, the concept approach fully applies to studying the FIBO, and the data model terminology translates to RDF/OWL: FIB-DM base entities derive from FIBO classes, associative entities from object properties, and packages from ontologies. The Situation (S) concept is a FIBO class (cmns-pts:Situation) that is only a subclass of Thing.

History and version

The FIB-DM version, derived from FIBO 2025/Q3, serves as the basis for concept analysis and counts of subtypes and associations.

In 2023, the Object Management Group (OMG) released the Commons Ontology Library in close collaboration with the EDM Council. Commons is an upper ontology that defines fundamental classes for agents and parties, classifications, codes, measures, quantities, and documents. The FIBO imports the Commons ontology, and in a significant refactoring, OMG Commons replaced generic FIBO Foundation classes and properties.

More than a mere renaming, OMG Commons is a new conceptualization and redesign of the FIBO: 63 classes and 50 object properties are deprecated in the latest version. This means the derived data model entities are no longer used and will disappear from the data model and ontology in future releases. The Situation (SIT), Constituent (CST), Designation (D), Collection (COL), and Aspect (ASP) are new concepts and new ultimate supertypes in the data model. The Reference concept is deprecated, and its 235 subtypes have moved to Designation and other concepts.

Concept Definitions and descriptions

The table has 5 rows per concept. The first column shows the concept icon, its 1-3 letter shorthand, name, and code in the data model. The second and third columns describe facets of the concept:

1. The data model package (with a link to the package diagram) and the OMG Commons definition.
2. Business Context is a more practical description of the concept.
3. The Hierarchy lists the most important subtypes of the concept.
4. Associations describe the most frequent relationships between entities.
5. The history of the concept before OMG Commons—whether it is new, unchanged, renamed, or replaces a deprecated concept.

#	Icon, shorthand, name, and code	Facet	Definition and Description
1		OMG Commons Parties and Situations	Setting, state of being, or relationship that is relatively stable for some period of time.
	SIT	Business Context	For OMG/FIBO, Situation means a state or relationship that Agents and Parties have agreed on.
	Situation	Hierarchy	With ten levels and 1,272 subtypes, the Situation is the largest concept in the FIBO and data model. Agreement, Contract, Debt, Financial Instruments, and Guaranty are important subtypes of the Situation.
	cmns-pts:Situation	Associations	•The contract parties, lender, borrower, and guarantor,  are roles. •Various Aspects, classifications, and codes may apply. •The (payment) schedule is a Collection •A designation identifies the contract (loan number, ID) •Contractual Elements, a Constituent, define terms. •Situations relate to Other Situations: A loan may have a guaranty agreement, and many Financial Instruments have underliers.
		New	The Situation is a new common supertye for the Agreement and Commitment, which are no longer independent concepts.
2		OMG Commons Roles and Compositions	Named specific behavior of something participating in a particular context
	R	Business Context	The Role defines what an Agent does. For example, a person may be a customer, borrower, employee, or the Financial Institution.
	Role	Hierarchy	With 604 subtype entities, the Role forms an extensive hierarchy in the Financial Industry Business Data Model. •Agent in Role is Client, Contract/Controlling/Reporting Party, Obligor, and Manager. •Assets are things of value in the context of Financial Assets or Collateral. •Functional Entity has rich Government and (Financial) Service Providers taxonomies. •Pool and Basket Constituents model indices and pooled investments. •Facilities and Venues cover financial marketplaces.
	cmns-rlcmp:Role	Associations	The Role has 780 associations with other FIBO Data Model entities: •As a Services Provider and Functional entity, the TIR provides Products and Services. •It is a Party in Role or Contract Party in Agreements. •The TIR issues Documents and, as a Registry or Agency, issues Identifiers. •The Identifiers, in turn, identify other Functional Entities or Service Providers.
		Renamed	The Role was previously known as Thing in Role.
3		OMG Commons Designators	Representation for something, or for a conceptualization thereof, that denotes it in a domain or subject.
	D	Business Context	All names, numeric and alphanumeric identifiers.
	Designation	Hierarchy	Prominent examples of Identifiers include the LEI, Passport Number, Account, and Security Identifiers; some may apply in specific contexts. Name and Code are widely used throughout FIBO/FIB-DM.
	cmns-dsg:Designation	Associations	Identifies, defines, comprises, and registers are among the 291 associations that connect how and where the Designation is used.
		New	Identifiers comprise the majority of Designation subtypes; hence, ID is their icon. Necessary Identifiers are a Person’s or a Business’s Tax Registry Identifiers. Various Financial Instrument Identifiers are also Designations. Code Elements, like Industry Classifications and Address Elements, are Designations.
4		OMG Commons Collections	Component of a collection or combination of things.
	CST	Business Context	The Constituents and subtypes have 276 associations; most are specializations of Collections, such as Baskets and Pools, via the “has Constituent” associative entity. Another vital pattern is Lifecycles, a subtype of Aspect. Lifecycle stages and events comprise Constituents. A Designation subtype Identifier may identify the constituent. Situation subtypes of Agreement often comprise Constituents.
	Constituent	Hierarchy	•The FIBO defines Registries for various Businesses and Financial Instruments. The individual Entry is a constituent. • A pool (and a Basket) is a collection of Securities. •The Contractual Element details Definition, Commitment, or Conditions of a Contract, subtype og the Situation concept.
	cmns-col:Constituent	Associations	•The Registry, a Collection subtype, comprises Registry Entries. •Agreements, under the Situation concept, have Contractual Elements and may apply to a Party Role. •A Contractual Element often specifies Date and Amount. For example, a Loan Agreement Contrctual Element would specify principal and due date.
		New
5		OMG Commons Collections	Grouping of things (may be zero) that have some shared significance
	COL	Business Context	We can view the Collection as a list, and Constituents are the list’s members.
	Collection	Hierarchy	The Constituent concept has 111 subtypes: Contractual Elements, Dated Collection Constituents, and Baskets. For now, contractual elements model securities concepts such as settlement and derivative terms and provisions. Notably, the Contractual Element and Contractual Commitment subtypes of Constituent have already moved to the FIBO Foundation. Hence, we can expect them to be reused to detail Banking Products.
	cmns-col:Collection	Associations	There are 118 Collection subtypes, mainly paired with Constituent subtypes: Code Sets for Industry Classifications, Business Identifiers, and Addresses. Structured Collections include a weight or date, for example, in Baskets or Schedules.
		New
6		OMG Commons Parties and Situations	An agent is an autonomous individual that can adapt to and interact with its environment.
	A	Business Context	There is a one-to-many association from the Agent to its Role.
	Agent	Hierarchy	•The Person is an intuitive subtype of an autonomous Agent. There can only be one record of you in an Agent table. •Likewise, there must be only one record of Legal Person with its subtype Legal Entity or Organization •Automated Systems or Software Agents can transact without human intervention.
	cmns-pts:Agent	Associations	•IDs identify the Agent, e.g., the Passport identifies a Person. •The Agent has Addresses; the corporation is Domiciled in some Geopolitical Entity •A Corporation has a Date of Incorporation, a Person has a Date of Birth. •The Functional Entity manages its Legal Entity. •Agents own other Agents: The hierarchy of subsidiaries.
		Renamed	The OMG Commons Agent replaces the deprecated FIBO Autonomous Agent.
7		OMG Commons Classifiers	A characteristic or feature that can be used to dimensionalize, filter, or subset a class, collection, or set of things.
	ASP	Business Context	Classifiers comprise the bulk of Aspect subtypes.
	Aspect	Hierarchy	•The Value is typically associated with an asset or property. •Index Value means an entry within an Indexing Scheme. •The Principal pertains to Agreements (e.g., the Loan Principal) •Classifiers comprise an extensive subtype hierarchy. •We have the Lifecycle Status (and Stage), Rating Scores, and Classification of Financial Instruments.
	cmns-cls:Aspect	Associations	•A Functional Entity may govern the Aspect. •Aspects classify other concepts, for example, the Type of a Legal Entity. •A Classification Scheme (Arrangement concept) defines the Classifier Aspect  •The Lifecycle Status has a Stage (an Occurrence) •A Lifecyle State precedes another.
		New
8		OMG Commons Documents	An explicit set of requirements to be satisfied by a material, product, or service.
	SP	Business Context	Specification Documents, Expressions, Values, and Formulas
	Specification	Hierarchy	•The intuitive subtype is a Technical (or any other) Specification Document. •A formula consists of one or more expressions. Examples are Cashflow or Option Premium formulas. • Expressions are various economic indicators like the CPI, Ratios, Pricing Models, and Exposures.
	cmns-doc:Specification	Associations	•The Specification may play a Role as an object. • Its value can be expressed as a Scalar Quantity. • Elaborate Specifications describe Derivatives, for example, the Strike Rate of an Option. •Contractual Elements have Specifications, such as the Accrual Basis of a Loan. •A Formular has one or more Expressions.
		New	The Expression was a standalone ultimate supertype in the FIBO.
9		OMG Commons Collections	Systematic plan, manner, or method for making, doing, achieving, or organizing something.
	ARR	Business Context	Schemes and codesets are significant Arrangements.
	Arrangement	Hierarchy	•Code Sets, Classification Schemes, Lifecycle, Identification, and Indexing Schemes are all Arrangements. •Examples are the SIC scheme, the classification of Financial Instruments, and the Trade Lifecycle. •We use the Organization Identification Scheme to model our Financial Institution’s Business Units.
	cmns-col:Arrangement	Associations	•Arrangements define Identifiers, which in turn comply with the Arrangement. •Arrangement defines Aspect, and the Collection may have an Arrangement. •Various things, like Products have a Lifecycle. •The Lifecycle has a Stage, an Occurrence.
		Replaces	The former FIBO Arrangement is now imported from the OMG Commons ontology.
10		OMG Commons Quantities and Units	Amount or degree of something; the dimensions, capacity, or amount of something ascertained by measuring.
	M	Business Context	In the FIBO, Measures define Derivatives and Economic Indicators.
	Measure	Hierarchy	•Material measures are quantities. They are tangible, as in a count or size. •Statistical Measures apply to a data set, such as the mean, weighted average, or the difference between values. •Qualified Measures have features that define how they are calculated. The Key Performance Indicator (KPI) is a subtype of the Qualified Measure.
	cmns-qtu:Measure	Associations	•Many Measures apply to Derivatives ( a subtype of the Situation) •Some Bonds are Based On Economic Indicators (Inflation-Linked Bond). •The actual number of the Measure is a Quantitative value. •Measures can have dates and intervals. • Economic indicators have a release date.
		Replaces	The OMG Measure replaces the deprecated ultimate supertype in Foundation Utilities.
11		FIBO Foundation Dates & Times Occurrences	Happening of an OccurrenceKind, i.e., an event
	OCC	Business Context	Also known as Events.
	Occurence	Hierarchy	•Transaction Events are the most essential Occurrence Kinds. •We find Trade, Payment, Swap, and Accounting Transactions. •Lifecycle Events occur during the stages of a Lifecycle. •The Occurrence, the actual instance of an event, follows the Occurrence Kind Structure. For example, a Payment is an instance of the Payment Event.
	fibo-fnd-dt-oc:Occurrence	Associations	•Many Occurrences apply to Contracts (their lifecycle). •Securities may specify an Occurrence, for example, an Interest Rate Reset. •An Aspect may classify the Occurrence. •Calculation Occurrences have an Expression, the result of the calculation is a Scalar Quantity Value. •A Schedule (Collection) has Occurrences. •The Default Event applies to a Legal Person (Agent concept)
		Unchanged
12		OMG Commons Dates and Times	Time interval or instant
	TE	Business Context	A common supertype for Date & Time, Duration, Interval, and Period.
	Temporal Entity	Hierarchy	•A Time Instant is a Date, Time, or Time Stamp. •The Time Direction indicates whether the Time Instant is forward or backward looking to a reference point. E.g., a due date may be invoice date plus 60 days. •The Time Interval can be a Duration (e.g., 10 years) or the period between two dates. •Recurrence Intervals have the same length as in a schedule.
	cmns-dt:TemporalEntity	Associations	•A Person has a Date of Birth, and a Corporation has a Registration Date. •The Consituent has various dates, specifying terms of a contract or Financial Instrument. •Documents have expiration dates (cards, identity documents, and offerings). •A contract usually has an effective date. A Reference Interest Rate has a Tenor.
		Replaces	The Temporal Entity concept refers to a point in time (Date, Datetime, Timestamp) or an interval (duration, period).
13		OMG Commons Documents	Unitary expression of some realization of an intellectual or artistic work
	DOC	Business Context	Documents
	Document	Hierarchy	•Important subtypes of DOC are Certificates, Publications, Records, and Legal Documents. •The Contract Document is the actual signed file or paper. •The Account Statement is both a Legal Document and a Record. •The Financial Institution files Regulatory Reports. •The Transaction Record is proof of the Transaction.
	cmns-doc:Document	Associations	•An Identity Document identifies a Person. •The plastic Credit Card applies to a Credit Card Account. •A Contract Document applies to an Agreement. •The Publisher (a Role) publishes the Publication. •A Document has an Expiration Date. •The Transaction is registered in the Transaction Record.
		Replaces	The OMG Commons Document replaces the deprecated FIBO Foundation Arrangement Document.
14		OMG Commons Quantities and Units	Property of a phenomenon, body, or substance, where the property has a magnitude that can be expressed by means of a number and a reference
	SQ	Business Context	Prices and Values are Scalar Quantities in the FIBO and FIB-DM.
	Scalar Quantity	Hierarchy	•Important Scalar Quantity Values are Monetary Amount, Price, and Quantitative Value. • Variables and constants are used in Expressions and Formulas. •The Measurement Unit is a Scalar Quantity.
	cmns-qtu:ScalarQuantity	Associations	138 associations connect the Scalar Quantity Value to entities with a price or value. The associations are role-named as Argument applies To, differe•The Expression has a Scalar Quantity Value as an Argument. •The Security, a Situation, has a Closing Price. •The Account has a Balance. •Debt Terms, a constituent, govern the Payment of Interest. •The Appraised Value, an Aspect, has an Estimated Value, the Market Value.
		New
15		FIBO Foundation Legal Capacity	Something which is conferred by way of law or contract, such as a right.
	LC	Business Context	A common supertype for Regulation, Contractual Rights, Duty, and Legal Capacity.
	Legal Construct	Hierarchy	•Legal Constructs break down into Right, Regulation, Duty, Legal Capacity, and De Jure Control. •Legal and Payment Obligations are essential (contractual) Duties. •Contractual Capability is the Legal Capacity to enter into contracts. •Regulatory Capacity is the right of a Regulator.
	fibo-fnd-law-lcap:LegalConstruct	Associations	•A Legal person has Contractual Capability or Regulatory Capacity. •An Agreement confers a Contractual Right. •De Jure Control is Conferred On a Party.  •A Contractual Right may imply a Legal Obligation. •A [contract] Constituent can mandate a Legal Obligation. •The Payment event fulfills the Payment Obligation.
		Unchanged
	Lesser Concepts		The following concepts have fewer subtypes and associations. While not “fundamental” to the data model, they are important to the Business, and may supplement FIB Concept Maps as needed.
16		OMG Commons Documents	Source that may be used to ascertain, interpret, or understand something
	REF	Business Context	Note that the new Designation concept replaced the Reference as the ultimate supertype for Identifiers.
	Reference	Hierarchy	•The Regulatory Report is a significant Reference Document. •The Physical or Electronic Address is an Index. •Unit and Scale are Measurement References that describe a Measurement Unit.
	cmns-doc:Reference	Associations	•The Measurement Unit has a Factor, the Unit Power Factor, which is an Aspect. •The Address is an Index to the Physical Location. •A Regulatory Report has a Reporting Period and is Submitted to a Regulator. •A Financial Instrument is Dominated in a Currency. •A Party has a Physical and Electronic Mail Addresses.
		Replaces	The OMG Commons Reference replaces the deprecated FIBO concept.
17		FIBO Foundation Places	Something established to serve a particular purpose, make some course of action or operation easier, or provide some capability or service.
	FAC	Business Context	The Exchange is a Facility subtype important for Funds and Securities.
	Facility	Hierarchy	•The Exchange facilitates trades in the Financial Markets. •The subtypes are the Regulated Exchange, e.g., the New York Stock Exchange, and Alternative Trading Systems. •The Interdealer Quotation System disseminates quotes by brokers and dealers. Systematic Internalizers execute customer trades on their own account, and Swaps have an Execution Facility
	fibo-fnd-plc-fac:Facility	Associations	•The Exchange has Financial Service Providers as Members. •A Market Identifier identifies the Exchange. •The Facility registers Registration Identifiers. •The Exchange publishes Listing Terms and lists Securities.
		Unchanged
18		FIBO Foundation Products and Services	A commercially distributed good that is (1) tangible property, (2) the output or result of a fabrication, manufacturing, or production process, or (3) something that passes through a distribution channel before being consumed or used.
	PRD	Business Context	The FIBO defines some Card and Account products. For example, the bank offers a banded deposit account product to the public.
	Product	Hierarchy	•Most significant subtypes are Contractual and Financial Products. •The Time Deposit is an example of an Account Product •There are many Financial Products for Banking an Over The Counter. •Packaged Products are both Financial and Contractual Products.
	fibo-fnd-pas-pas:Product	Associations	•A Buyer (the customer) buys the product, and the Seller (our FI) sells it. •The Product uses a Currency (concept of Reference). •A Catalog (or other Document) describes the Product. •The Financial Service Provider provides the Financial Product. •The Credit Card Account exemplifies the Credit Card Product, and the Credit Card Agreement applies to it. •The Packaged Financial Product comprises other Financial Products.
		Unchanged
19		FIBO FBC Clients And Accounts	Container for records associated with a business arrangement for regular transactions and services.
	ACT	Business Context	General ledgers, savings, and investment accounts are typical retail examples. A Situation subtype holds the Agreement in FIB-DM databases and the ontology, and the linked account records transactions and balances.
	Accout	Hierarchy	•For the front office, we have the Customer Account, Card accounts, Loan, and Investment Accounts •The General Ledger Account supports back-office data.
	fibo-fbc-pas-caa:Account	Associations	•The Financial Institution provides the Account. •It has a Balance, which is a Scalar Value. •An Account Identifier or Number Identifies the Account. •Individual Transactions apply to the Account. •The Customer and sometimes an Escrow Agent or a Custodian hold the Account. •The Loan has a Corresponding Account. •The Account has Open, Close and other dates associated. •The Account may exemplify a Product.
		Unchanged
20		LCC Country Representation	Place or position in time and/or space, including a virtual place.
	LOC	Business Context	Physical and virtual places.
	Location	Hierarchy	•There are three subtypes of Location: Notional Place, Virtual-, and Physical Location. •A Notional Place is an abstract location, like the domestic or the Eurozone. •Virtual Locations are network locations, like shared drives & folders, cloud storage, websites, and IP addresses. •The Place of Birth is an example of a Physical Location.
	lcc-cr:Location	Associations	•The Financial Institution provides the Account. •It has a Balance, which is a Scalar Value. •An Account Identifier or Number Identifies the Account. •Individual Transactions apply to the Account. •The Customer and sometimes an Escrow Agent or a Custodian hold the Account. •The Loan has a Corresponding Account. •The Account has Open, Close, and other dates associated. •The Account may exemplify a Product.
		Unchanged
21		FIBO Foundation Products and Services	A type of economic activity that is intangible is not stored and does not result in ownership; a service is consumed at the point of sale.
	SVC	Business Context	Investment management is an example of a Financial Service.
	Service	Hierarchy	•Subtypes of Services are Regulatory, Registration, and Financial Services. •The major financial services are Banking, Investment, Insurance, and Capital Market related.
	fibo-fnd-pas-pas:Service	Associations	•Subtypes of Services are Regulatory, Registration, and Financial Services. •The major financial services are Banking, Investment, Insurance, and Capital Market-related.
		Unchanged