About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

The Challenges and Opportunities of Data Lineage

Subscribe to our newsletter

Data lineage is driven by regulation and impeded by technology complexity and poor understanding, although once these impediments are tackled, successful implementation can yield significant business and operational benefits.

The challenges and opportunities of establishing a sustainable solution for data lineage were discussed during a recent A-Team Group webinar that was hosted by A-Team editor Sarah Underwood and joined by Johann van Biljon, data governance specialist at Rabobank; James Longstaff, vice president at Deutsche Bank; and Olivier Kenji Mathurin, head of strategic research at AIM Software.

Setting the scene for discussion an audience poll considered the drivers of data lineage. Regulation was named by respondents as the key driver, ahead of data value, client requests and market data costs. A second poll asked the webinar audience what is delaying data lineage projects. The results of this poll showed 46% of respondents identifying technology complexity as a problem, 20% noting a poor understanding of data lineage, and 15% noting either an absence of management buy-in or a lack of budget and resources.

The webinar speakers broadly agreed with the drivers noted in the first audience poll, saying data lineage is key to BCBS 239, but also an important factor of other regulations such as Dodd-Frank, European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) and the Fundamental Review of the Trading Book.

They described the essential elements of data lineage as meta data, glossaries, data management, data governance and automation, and noted challenges arising from high volumes of data, siloed data, and difficulties in mining outsourced and automated data.

Implementation, the speakers suggested, should start small and grow over time with a clear focus on end goals, including which parts of the organisation will access data lineage and what it will be used for. A successful implementation will optimise data flows, provide better insight into data, and allow redundant systems and data services to be identified and switched off.

Listen to the webinar to find out more about:

  • Drivers behind data lineage
  • Barriers to implementation
  • How to build and sustain data lineage
  • Outstanding challenges
  • Beneficial outcomes
Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Detecting and preventing market abuse

Market abuse – unlawful disclosure of inside information, insider trading, circular trading, “pump and dump” schemes, etc. – poses significant threats to the integrity of capital markets. In 2024, global trading house Trafigura agreed to pay a $55 million fine to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for trading with non-public information, manipulating a...

BLOG

Scalability the Keyword Behind S&P Global’s Enriched iLEVEL

S&P Global Market Intelligence’s update to its iLEVEL private markets data tool has been designed to enable firms to scale their engagements in private markets. The financial data company is betting that financial institutions’ growing engagement in these markets is such that they will need the sort of data provisions associated with public markets. S&P...

EVENT

Future of Capital Markets Tech Summit: Buy AND Build, London

Buy AND Build: The Future of Capital Markets Technology London examines the latest changes and innovations in trading technology and explores how technology is being deployed to create an edge in sell side and buy side capital markets financial institutions.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...