The Aite report - based on a January to April 2012 online survey and interviews with individuals responsible for legal entity data management at 23 financial institutions on the buy- and sell-side - says regulatory pressure following the 2008 financial crisis has forced banks to reconsider their counterparty risk exposure assessment capabilities.

And industry moves towards the adoption of a new standard for identifying legal entities for regulatory reporting purposes has pushed the issue firmly up the agenda.

From a $77.6 million spend in 2010, the analyst house expects the annual industry outlay to rise exponentially over the coming years, peaking at $197.5 million in 2015.

Virginie O'Shea, Aite Group analyst, says: "Legal entity data management teams will appear in firms that currently lack such a function, and technology spending to further automate the space will gradually rise. One tier-one sell-side firm noted that its spending on legal entity data has risen 100% over the last five years, and we expect many more firms to engage in similar levels of investment."