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: Hearing from the Experts: AI Governance Best Practices

The rapid spread of artificial intelligence in the financial industry presents data teams with novel challenges. AI’s ability to harvest and utilize vast amounts of data has raised concerns about the privacy and security of sensitive proprietary data and the ethical and legal use of external information. Robust data governance frameworks provide the guardrails needed...

BLOG

How GenAI Is Reshaping Surveillance and Screening: Practical Takeaways for Compliance Leaders

The rapid expansion of Generative AI across financial institutions is often described in terms of technological capability, model performance, and data scale. But for compliance leaders, the more meaningful shift is organisational and operational. The recent A-Team Group webinar on GenAI and LLM case studies for surveillance, screening and scanning brought this into sharp focus....

EVENT

Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference, Spring, New York, hosted by A-Team Group

Now in its 8th year, the Eagle Alpha Alternative Data Conference managed by A-Team Group, is the premier content forum and networking event for investment firms and hedge funds.

GUIDE

Regulatory Data Handbook 2025 – Thirteenth Edition

Welcome to the thirteenth edition of A-Team Group’s Regulatory Data Handbook, a unique and practical guide to capital markets regulation, regulatory change, and the data and data management requirements of compliance across Europe, the UK, US and Asia-Pacific. This year’s edition lands at a moment of accelerating regulatory divergence and intensifying data focused supervision. Inside,...