To be in great compliance and business shape, banks need to get fit at a granular level

To be in great compliance and business shape, banks need to get fit at a granular level

Regulators are scrutinising credit exposures like never before and conducting deeper market surveillance. Take the Analytical Credit Dataset (AnaCredit), the latest in a growing number of regulations that demand large volumes of granular credit data. It represents a significant challenge to financial organisations, as they’ll struggle to supply the growing numbers of reports, at the more frequent intervals required.

Other stress testing requirements, such as the Firm Data Submission Framework (FDSF) in the UK, are calling for a similar set of data. It’s unavoidable, there is an almost scarily choreographed commonality across multiple regulatory principles and requirements that is aimed squarely at the health of a firms data landscape –institutions must prepare for a new world, and think strategically about their storage and management of data.

Beyond meeting the latest regulations, there’s a great payoff: Organisations that correctly manage data emerge as more agile and competitive businesses.

That’s because, although it may be a necessary evil, ever-changing legislation offers organisations a new way of acquiring, organising, moving and using data so that they extract greater value from both their data and technology. The key to success? Consistency, strategy and a streamlined, scalable platform that automates the entire reporting process. The benefits are felt from desktop to enterprise:

• When data is consistent across the organisation, it eliminates the cost of resolving data disputes, fixing errors and rechecking work.
• A standardised infrastructure for accessing and working with data reduces operational support costs.
• IT and other teams can handle higher workloads without more staff and spend more time on projects that differentiate the firm.
• When internal systems for data management become more standardised, firms can redirect more resources to strategic innovation.

It seems that what’s best for regulators, is also best for banks. It’s time for many organisations to take a hard look at legacy technology and traditional processes.