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

Sitting Up and Taking Notice

Subscribe to our newsletter

Finally, the world seems to be paying attention to what industry protagonists have been saying about the reference data marketplace for what now seems like quite some time: that reference data is important to your business, no matter what it is.

Maybe it’s because the protagonists have become more sophisticated. We were encouraged to hear about the FISD’s ‘Four Pillars of Reference Data Standards,’ as presented to the Securities Industry Association by Mike Atkin last month. Pointing out that the overall goal is “a common market data infrastructure for securities processing automation,”

Atkin described the four pillars thus: 1. Identify all financial instruments with precision (multiple listings). 2. Identify all business entities for processing efficiency, regulatory compliance and risk mitigation. 3. Identify all data elements associated with a financial instrument lifecycle with absolute precision (standard terms, definitions and relationships). 4. Define a common distribution protocol for efficient and accurate processing. This kind of definition of reference data activities can only help the user community realize that it’s a serious business.

It seems to be happening. First, London’s Exchange Data International (EDI) let slip that it signed up 20 new customers in the first two months of the year. Not bad. Then, we spoke to Ken Johnson of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board’s decision to build a reference data management platform around Eagle Investment Systems’ Eagle Reference Manager system. And finally, we got wind of a major win in New York – stay tuned, as we like to say – for a relative newcomer to the space, as well as of a spate of requests for proposal – ditto – in both New York and London. A clue to how seriously the industry is now taking the various standard work going on is yielded by a glance at the list of active participants in the SIA’s Standards & Protocol Working Group:

  • Norm Allen (Bear Stearns)
  • Michael Atkin (FISD/MDDL, X9D, ISO TC68/SC4, REDAC, UII Working Group)
  • John Bottega (Credit Suisse First Boston)
  • Mary Dupay (Goldman Sachs)
  • Cecilia Holden (Merrill Lynch)
  • Steve Kelly (Goldman Sachs, Reference Data Coalition/REDAC)
  • Kevin Smith (Bank of New York, ISITC IOA)
  • Steven Lachaga (JPMorgan)
  • Simon Leighton-Porter (Citigroup, RDUG)
  • James Leman (who recently joined SunGard/Brass from Citigroup)
  • Sandy Throne (DTCC, X9D, ISO TC68/SC4)
  • John Panchery (SIA)
  • Brad Smith (Capco)
  • Judy Smith (Morgan Stanley)
  • Sanjay Vasta (Merrill Lynch Asset Management)
  • John White (State Street Global Advisors)

Whichever way you look at it, the group is not too shabby. Its particip-ants underscore the commitment the major firms are making to the initiative. Surely, with this level of support, the efforts to introduce workable standards must be successful.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: End-to-End Lineage for Financial Services: The Missing Link for Both Compliance and AI Readiness

The importance of complete robust end-to-end data lineage in financial services and capital markets cannot be overstated. Without the ability to trace and verify data across its lifecycle, many critical workflows – from trade reconciliation to risk management – cannot be executed effectively. At the top of the list is regulatory compliance. Regulators demand a...

BLOG

Data Management Summit New York Takes Deep Dive into Modern Data Landscape

The 15th annual A-Team Group Data Management Summit New York City kicks off tomorrow with one theme prominent in the day of discussions, debates and keynote addresses: data quality. Without good quality data organisations can’t hope to achieve their objectives, be they implementation of artificial intelligence applications, automation of essential workflows or compliance with regulatory...

EVENT

Data Management Summit New York City

Now in its 15th year the Data Management Summit NYC brings together the North American data management community to explore how data strategy is evolving to drive business outcomes and speed to market in changing times.

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...