Risk data aggregations has become the top compliance concern for 70 per cent of chief data officers within financial services firms, according to new research.

A survey of 100 data and information technology executives by WBR Insights also found that 88 per cent of organisations are devoting 40 per cent or more of their total data practice budget to compliance functions.

More than half (54 per cent) of those surveyed further revealed that at least half of these functions are still performed manually within their organisation.

However, steps are being taken to modernise, with 87 per cent of executives saying they are implementing strategic data management initiatives in 2021 to further key business objectives, such as boosting profitability and improving customer outcomes.

While 70 per cent of CDOs saus risk data aggregation is the primary regulatory concern within their IT departments, 69 per cent say “Know Your Customer” is their primary area of resource consumption.

A further 69 per cent of CDOs say their organisations have applied data lineage as a data governance technique, and 52 per cent have applied crowdsourcing techniques.

In addition 63 per cent of CDOs said they are pursuing an analytics-driven business strategy through an “offensive” approach to data management.

Commenting on the findings, Ann Kuelzow, global head of financial services at InterSystems, said: “Financial services organisations are striving to gain a competitive edge, deliver more value to customers, reduce risk, and respond more quickly to the needs of the business.”

“This requires leveraging data to its full effect – and the research shows that there is still more work required on defensive data management and automating compliance functions, as well as the more strategic “change the bank” types of initiatives that could have a significant impact on their operations.”

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