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 Data Year Ahead: More Data Formats and Use Cases

Subscribe to our newsletter

In the second part of our preview of the next 12 months in data management, we take in the views of experts who offered Data Management Insight their thoughts on a range of developments, including the increased use of unstructured data, the wider application of data sets and distribution challenges.

1 Data Governance, Quality and Technologies

Ian Manocha, CEO at Gresham

“The scope of data governance will broaden in 2025, driven by regulatory frameworks like the EU AI Act. Such governance initiatives will extend beyond traditional data management to encompass AI, chatbot oversight and emerging technologies. With AI systems increasingly integral to business operations, ensuring accountability, fairness, and transparency will become central to governance efforts.

“Financial institutions will need to implement rigorous standards and practices to manage these complex technologies effectively, safeguarding both operational integrity and compliance in an evolving regulatory landscape.”

Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon, Chief Commercial Officer at RepRisk

“We will see regulators focus increasingly on the transparency of data and metrics in the year ahead. In the UK for instance, legislation on ESG ratings agencies has been brought forward to 2025. Transparency is an issue throughout the ESG value chain and the data providers whose services underpin products in the investment industry are not exempt from this. It is therefore a logical step forward for these providers to be transparent about their purpose and methodology.”

2 Use cases for data

Leila Sadiq, Global Head of Enterprise Data Content at Bloomberg

“With the increased adoption of AI and the race to innovate taking hold throughout the financial sector, data and insights are now a performance-enabler for capital market participants. 2025 will see new and novel ways to use data at a much faster rate than we’ve seen before. Increasingly, customers are looking for high-quality trading and risk data that goes beyond raw data to deliver true analytics and insights. As more and more financial firms experiment with building AI models, this type of data is in high demand to feed into their models, combine with their own intellectual property and refine their investment strategies. As we enter the new year with continued global uncertainty, I expect to see heightened demand for sector, macro-level data-driven insights as well as geopolitical risk data.”

Julian Trotinsky, Global Director of Solutions Engineering, Gresham

“Real-time data capabilities will take centre stage in 2025, particularly as regulatory shifts like T+1 settlement gain traction across Europe. A heightened demand for solutions that enable instantaneous data collection and reconciliation is predicted.

“The financial industry’s appetite for real-time insights stems from a need to mitigate risks, enhance decision-making, and meet customer expectations in an era of instant gratification. Firms that invest in real-time infrastructure will not only align with emerging compliance standards but also gain a strategic edge by responding to market dynamics with unparalleled speed and precision.”

Gregor Stolz, Account Director, Gresham

“With cost pressures mounting, financial institutions may start to deprioritise non-core activities like ESG initiatives and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes. We may begin to see a shift to these areas become largely compliance-driven, with firms focusing only on meeting regulatory requirements.

“While such initiatives gained prominence in more stable economic conditions, their perceived lack of immediate financial returns could make them vulnerable to budget cuts. This trend reflects a recalibration of priorities as institutions channel resources toward addressing fundamental operational and market challenges.”

3 Data Formats and Volume

Alexandra Mihailescu Cichon, Chief Commercial Officer at RepRisk

“There will be continued emphasis on transparency and access to timely, granular data that goes beyond company disclosures. This will empower companies and investors to focus on the risks that truly matter, recognising that investment and supply-chain risk vary across regions, industries and risk profiles. Data from regulatory reports, media and NGOs can capture what disclosures do not. It is therefore essential for understanding and mitigating business conduct risks.

“We will see growth in demand for expansive datasets spotlighting companies and projects that previously flew under the radar. While selective due diligence-grade data that cuts through the noise will remain crucial for many market participants, the demand for expansive datasets spotlighting companies and projects that previously flew under the radar is set to grow. This shift will enable investors and companies, particularly in private markets, to perform deeper and more targeted analyses.”

Marion Leslie, Head Financial Information SIX

“Our Future of Finance report found that over a third (37%) of investment banks cite enhancing their data and analytics capabilities as the biggest enabler for growth over the next three years, while 41% view historical data as the top priority for increased spending. Risk management as a function has grown in importance for all types of financial institutions in the years following the 2008 financial crisis. Investment banks take so much value from historical datasets, which enable them to thoroughly stress test and ensure their strategies are robust. It makes sense that they anticipate consuming more of this data type in response to recent shock events across financial markets.”

Marvin Ward, Global Head of Bloomberg’s Data Management Lab

“We are now living in a world in which decision makers expect to draw insights from a variety of structured and unstructured data sources in a coherent manner. These sources continue to grow in number, but are often full of inconsistencies in terms of format, how ideas are represented, or sometimes, even the basic facts. On top of that, these data sources are live and always evolving. To empower decision makers, data providers will need to tackle latent tech and data debt, while accelerating investment in data governance, metadata management and data quality management.

“Internally, these investments support efficient production of data assets and enable the development of AI-powered products and workflows with confidence. AI investments are notoriously data hungry, and will inevitably magnify the consequences of inconsistent or erroneous data. We also expect to see investment in governance, metadata, and quality management grow as more firms lean into AI investments in 2025.”

Julian Trotinsky, Global Director of Solutions Engineering, Gresham

“The exponential rise in data volumes shows no signs of abating in 2025. Over the past decade, financial services firms have witnessed an annual surge in data production and consumption, driven by regulatory demands, digital transformation, and the proliferation of new data sources.

“I’d expect to see an increase of at least 10% in data volumes over the next 12 months, fuelled by ongoing innovation and increased reliance on data-driven decision-making. As firms navigate this trend, they must ensure robust data governance frameworks and scalable infrastructures to handle the complexities and opportunities associated with this relentless growth.”

4 Data Distribution

Ian Manocha, CEO, Gresham

“Data fabrics and meshes will gain prominence in 2025, reflecting the growing need for flexibility and seamless data distribution. These architectures break down barriers to data use, enabling organisations to access, share, and govern information more efficiently.

“Enterprise data management solutions must evolve to support this shift, offering greater adaptability and decentralised capabilities. By embracing these innovative approaches, firms can overcome legacy constraints, foster collaboration, and maximise the value of their data assets in an increasingly interconnected ecosystem. This trend signals a move towards more agile and scalable data infrastructures across the financial sector.”

Jeremy Katzeff, Head of Buy-Side Solutions at GoldenSource

“As regulatory pressures begin to lighten, we’re very likely going to see a more bullish environment with more mergers and acquisitions in the asset management space, particularly within private equity investment. Blackrock is predicting that the private debt market will more than double to $4.5 trillion by 2030. So, with the continuing emergence of private capital financing, of course, comes the need for more rigorous data governance and management.

“To effectively navigate this, asset managers and owners are looking to find more effective, less costly ways to derive greater value from their data. This is where having a balanced tech stack that enables greater scalability, transparency and the data to garner deeper insights comes into the conversation. It’s yet another argument for taking a serious look at having a cloud-based data warehouse because it provides all the elements of a consolidated, viable data foundation to more confidently respond to whatever may be happening in the investment market space.”

Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Recorded Webinar: Best practices for buy-side data management across structured and unstructured data

Data management is central to asset management, but it can also be a challenge as firms face increased volumes of data, data complexity and the need to consolidate structured and unstructured data to gain valuable insights, improve decision-making, step up customer acquisition and compliance, and ultimately, gain competitive advantage in a market characterised by tight...

BLOG

Bloomberg’s VDR Offers Data Fitting Room to Tackle Information Overload

Data overload is a phrase that’s being more commonly heard as the volume of digital information available to financial institutions swells. More than that, finding the data that best suits their specific needs has become an arduous task, especially given that it can take the best part of a financial quarter to onboard new data...

EVENT

AI in Capital Markets Summit London

The AI in Capital Markets Summit will explore current and emerging trends in AI, the potential of Generative AI and LLMs and how AI can be applied for efficiencies and business value across a number of use cases, in the front and back office of financial institutions. The agenda will explore the risks and challenges of adopting AI and the foundational technologies and data management capabilities that underpin successful deployment.

GUIDE

Regulatory Data Handbook 2024 – Twelfth Edition

Welcome to the twelfth edition of A-Team Group’s Regulatory Data Handbook, a unique and useful guide to capital markets regulation, regulatory change and the data and data management requirements of compliance. The handbook covers regulation in Europe, the UK, US and Asia-Pacific. This edition of the handbook includes a detailed review of acts, plans and...