The aforementioned two-day conference on reference data management for the banking industry has revealed major gaps in the industry’s ability to meet the tsunami of regulatory requirements.
Officials from the European Central Bank, Committee of European Securities Regulators, JWG, the regulatory think-tank, and over 20 bankers discussed today’s reference data challenges and explored the industry’s path forward.
The gathering of over 30 professionals concluded:
- Rising operational complexity and the regulatory tsunami have changed the game for the back-office
- All firms are challenged to meet the new information standards
- Collective action is required from the industry to establish these standards and regulatory support is called for to make them effective
- Reference data standards, as well as regulations to support them, should be established in a collaborative effort between the industry and the authorities
The approach employed to develop the wholesale customer data standards should be leveraged to produce more guidance
Julia Sutton, Director of Global Reference Data at Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets, commented “This was a real call to arms. It was clear that current data infrastructures across the industry’s information supply chain are not designed for the new regulatory requirements. We’ve been talking about this long enough. We need the right people to set the benchmarks and time is of the essence.”
Francis Gross, Head of External Statistics for the European Central Bank said “It was great to see industry thought leaders from across the globe engage in a constructive discussion on reference data standardisation in which they also reflected on issues of practical implementation. The discussion showed that the regulators, central banks and industry all need a single, shared reference data infrastructure. We all realised, in the light of recent developments, that the subject is now gaining a lot of positive attention far beyond the data community.”
Arja Voipo, Senior Advisor to the Financial Supervisory Authority in Finland and Chair of the CESR Technology Committee, added “I was pleased to learn that the industry is collectively moving forward in addressing reference data issues. Most regulators are busy with other things and clearly reluctant to take on the task. However, regulators need to understand the urgency of these issues and it was refreshing to see the banks proactive on this front.”
PJ Di Giammarino, CEO, JWG and Chairman of the conference, concluded “Large firms are particularly hard hit by new, and often imprecise, information requirements drafted by different authorities across the globe. We are pleased that the industry recognises that a collaborative model is needed to define industry guidance. The regulators and central banks are welcome as catalysts in this effort.
“Reference data standards have been needed for a long time. It is now becoming clearer that regulation was the missing component. Our experience in the wholesale customer data space has proven that this is possible with the support of the experts from the banking sector, information supply chain and the authorities.”
To download the JWG industry guidance on the ‘Maintenance of wholesale customer data’, please visit http://www.jwg-it.eu/library.php
For more information on the CDMG click here.
For more info on the 3rd Annual Reference Data Management for the Banking Industry Conference hosted by Marcus Evans event click here.
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