The days of paying mere lip service to the goal of improving data quality and living with “spaghetti-like” data infrastructures are soon to be gone, said Deutsche Bank’s head of reference data services, Neil Fletcher, to those in attendance at last week’s Thomson Reuters event. His own firm is much more aware of the importance of data quality at a senior level and has therefore been compelled to embark on a long term project to ensure that all of its downstream systems get data from the same logical place on a global basis, he explained.
UK-based clearer LCH.Clearnet is mid-way through a significant project to revamp its internal data architecture, according to Martin Taylor, group chief information officer at the clearer. Taylor told attendees to last week’s Thomson Reuters organised data management roundtable that the clearer is six months into a project that will deliver a more standardised approach to data management via the move to a master data management (MDM) structure and the implementation of a new data warehouse.
Last week, interdealer brokerage firm Tullett Prebon announced it had entered into an acquisition agreement for an undisclosed amount with derivatives valuation services provider OTC Valuations (commonly known as OTC Val). Paul Humphrey, CEO of Tullett Prebon’s Electronic Broking and Information division, explains to A-Team Insight that the acquisition is all part of the firm’s drive to service the complex end of the valuations market.
Increasing volumes and the complexity of reference data in the post-crisis environment have left the middle office struggling to meet the requirements of the current market order. Middle office functions must therefore be robust enough to be able to deal with the spectre of globalisation, an increase in the use of esoteric security types and complex investment strategies, as well as rising transaction volumes. This has led many from the buy side and the sell side to consider outsourcing strategies for some of these functions, offshoring, in-house development or the acquisition of new vendor technology.
Financial services firms are being faced with a huge number of on the hoof ad hoc reporting requirements from the regulatory community and this is putting significant pressure on their data infrastructures, said Kris Bhattacharjee, global head of regulatory policy and reporting at Barclays Capital. He explained to attendees to Thomson Reuters’ roundtable earlier this week that BarCap has been compelled to invest in its data infrastructure to meet these pressures because the business and regulators are both looking for more granular data.
Data’s position as a critically important subject in the financial markets has finally been recognised by both the regulatory community and the industry at large, said Jon Robson, president of Thomson Reuters’ Enterprise division, to attendees to the vendor’s data roundtable event in London earlier this week. “The financial markets are all about content and data is a core asset of a financial institution. Firms have recognised this as they face the onslaught of new regulations and transparency requirements,” he explained.
A-Team Insight Exchange is a new event series for 2010, which will combine A-Team’s expertise in financial markets IT with thought leadership from world-class technology innovators and practical experience from financial market practitioners.
As predicted, Thomson Reuters Markets has relocated Eric Frank, president of its Investment & Advisory business line, to its Hong Kong office, from New York. The move appears to lend credence to the idea that some kind of management reshuffle is under way at Thomson Reuters Markets, as suggested in A-Team editor-in-chief Andrew Delaney’s blog last week [see here].
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