Founded in 2017 in Zurich by a group of leading financial institutions, the openfunds association is a non-profit organisation under Swiss law whose goal is to establish a common industry standard for the characterisation of investment fund data. Initiated in January 2014 by UBS AG, Credit Suisse AG, Bank Julius Bär & Co. AG and fundinfo AG, the openfunds association released the license-free openfunds standard to the fund industry in June 2016. The openfunds standard is an open, extensible and cost-free standard for the characterisation of investment funds. It facilitates the error-free exchange and validation of fund data while eliminating ambiguity and misinterpretation. It is the goal of the openfunds standard to improve the quality and efficiency in the dissemination of fund data while providing for a common understanding of the information it contains. The use of the openfunds standard is available to the global fund industry without obligation.