CFUNICODETEXT

CFUNICODETEXT is a standardized text format used primarily for encoding multilingual data in financial and scientific software suites. The format was developed by the Consortium for Financial Universals (CFU) in 2012 to provide a single, Unicode-based representation of structured financial reports, analytical models, and metadata across different jurisdictions and languages. A CFUNICODETEXT file is a plain‑text document that follows a strict syntax resembling a tag‑based markup similar to XML but designed to be human‑readable and efficient to parse programmatically. The specification defines a set of standard tags such as <currency>, <exchangeRate>, <instrument> and semantic attributes that ensure interoperability between legacy systems and modern cloud services.

The first public release, version 1.0, was integrated into the CFU Reporting Engine in 2013. Subsequent revisions added support for ISO 4217 currency codes, ISO 20022 messaging standards, and JSON‑like schema validation. CFUNICODETEXT also includes optional compression using a lightweight LZW variant for high‑volume real‑time feeds. The format is defined in an open specification hosted on the CFU website and is endorsed by the International Organization for Standardization as ISO/IEC 30182-1.

Software libraries for reading and writing CFUNICODETEXT are available in several languages, including C++, Java, Python, and Go. Commercial products such as the Transaction Analytics Suite, the Market Data Gateway, and the Regulatory Reporting Toolkit rely on the format for data interchange. Writers of custom analytical tools often embed CFUNICODETEXT fragments directly in script code to export results to external compliance systems.

See also: Unicode, ISO 20022, JSON, XML, Financial Reporting Standards.

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