The financial services industry has never been under a brighter spotlight or stronger microscope than it has been for the past year. Everywhere you turn there is someone or some organisation making demands towards greater regulation to control or monitor risk. At the same time, firms have begun to recognise that if they look after their own affairs before they are mandated by someone else, they will inevitably help themselves to avoid the fate of others no longer with us. Managing the new world risk challenges that they face demands that the data management work needed for tomorrow’s business is started today.

A key challenge to effectively managing risk and exposure is undoubtedly data management. Custodians and regulators alike agree that the inconsistencies in the myriad of systems out there can cause dissemination issues that ultimately make it extremely difficult to calculate an organisation’s overall risk or exposure level. As we move forward, firms will be expected to produce reports that detail the number of positions held, the value of those positions, as well as a great deal of analytical information about all of this, including geography and asset class. Think about that for a second – quotes, trades, phone calls, instant messages, news releases, etc. – the amount of information required is breath-taking. And when regulators get involved in the process, that amount is only going to increase, as they start looking at counterparty risk with an even finer tooth comb. » Read more: Data Management – Future Proofing For Success