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Royal Bank of Scotland Centralises Reference Data Using SmartCo DataHub

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Royal Bank of Scotland’s Global Banking & Markets (GBM) group has gone live with SmartCo’s DataHub enterprise data management platform. GBM is using the system to centralise and manage all the security reference data and end-of-day pricing, creating a hub that will serve all bank departments.

GBM selected DataHub after a period of extensive market and competitor review, as well as eight weeks in the proof-of-concept stage. The bank then embarked on a 16-week implementation phase, with the first scope of the project focusing on fixed-income securities.

According to Jason McCallion, RBS programme manager, “We are very excited about the SmartCo solution and the fast project implementation. The ability to configure in house, rather than rely on vendor developments, means we are able to roll-out the solution incrementally to provide short-term benefits, and also build the foundation of RBS’s long-term strategic tool.”

With fixed income up and running, RBS’s teams in Europe and Asia will add and manage new data scopes to this central repository within the coming months. The data management processes are handled 24/7, with a central data management team split in different European and Asian cities.

“The product is also intuitive and we already have a strong team both onshore and offshore able to implement new products and features. We specifically wanted to avoid a long-term and expensive vendor relationship and the SmartCo product has given us that opportunity.” says McCallion.

GBM selected SmartCo DataHub for its flexibility, robustness, ease of use and ability to easily grow with the organization as the business requirements and constraints constantly change. Delivering out-of-the-box connectivity coupled with an adaptable data model, SmartCo was able to accelerate implementation and add value.

Among other objectives, the project will help RBS reduce its consumption of reference data; have an overall better data quality and pricing data sourcing; acquire a higher STP rate and monitor the quality of trades; and finally improve the accuracy of instrument to issuer mappings.

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