I want to design an efficient & flexible architecture to process Swaps based on a standard financial protocol - FPML (Financial products markup language).
I've researched on internet but didn't find much information. The definitions which I found are:
SWAP (definition):
Swap refers to an exchange of one financial instrument for another between the parties concerned. This exchange takes place at a predetermined time, as specified in the contract.
FPML:
FPML (Financial products Markup Language) is the open source XML standard for electronic dealing and processing of OTC derivatives. It establishes the industry protocol for sharing information on, and dealing in, financial derivatives and structured products.
Seems you have got an assignment to complete. I had almost the same thing to build using c# and ms sql.
Few important links and mentioning which will help you.
Few References
http://www.investinganswers.com/financial-dictionary/optionsderivatives/interest-rate-swap-2252
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swap.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swap_(finance)
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/equityswap.asp
http://www.fpml.org/documents/FpML5-products-framework.pdf
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/07/swaps.asp
Hope this will help you.