The survey of CIOs, CTOs and other senior data and business managers at banks in the US and UK found that the lack of concrete return on investment (ROI) on EDM is making raising budget for EDM projects more difficult. But despite this 65% of firms expect to spend more money on EDM technology in the next financial year.

Risk management and business enablement are the key business drivers for investment in EDM. For larger firms it is also seen as key to tapping into new business such as algorithmic trading.

The research also found that respondents had mixed views on how successful the data management initiatives undertaken across the industry in recent years had been on improving the number of failed trades due to poor reference data. While 46% of respondents thought the situation had improved, over a quarter (27%) felt it had become worse, although this is attributed mainly to growing trade volumes in instruments such as credit derivatives.

Just under half of the firms surveyed (47%) claim to already have an enterprise data strategy supported by top management, says GoldenSource. But while most firms say they want to centralise responsibility for data management, several respondents said they knew of only one tier one bank that had a dedicated c-level role responsible for data management.

Mike Meriton, CEO at GoldenSource, says the research shows that EDM is seen at the c-level as the core solution for a wide range of business challenges.

"The technological infrastructure is already available but this survey shows there is still, in essence, a cultural and organisational shift required to harness the full potential of these solutions," he adds.