Guest blog post by Chris
Bradley, Chief Development Officer, IPL
Unsurprisingly,
the principle point of discussion at FIMA 2012 was the area of information
management and the rise of its importance within the finance sector. With
regulatory pressure driving interest – hardly something the finance industry is
not used to! – along with the proposed legal entity identifier which is pushing all businesses to have a growing and
willing demand for detailed, even real-time, knowledge, information management
was a topic that permeated almost every discussion at the three day event in
London.
Of
course, increasing awareness and debate around this topic can surely only be
good news for the industry. There is clear benefit in those in the finance
sector now realising that failure to manage data effectively – and therefore
conform to legislative and regulatory requirements – can have catastrophic
effects, resulting in imprisonment as well as businesses being shut down. After
all, where other sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, have been deploying
information management systems for some time, in the finance arena it is a
surprisingly relatively new concept.
Therefore,
the interesting workshops dedicated to information management at FIMA 2012 were
very welcome and apt, however these could have held more relevance through
cross-industry comparisons. Had these presentations and workshops shown
delegates examples of successful deployments of information management systems
and processes in a relatively comparative industry, than those who were
slightly on the fence about the need for information management would have left
with a solid understanding of how such a system can really benefit a business.
On
a related note, the drive for organisations to hire a Chief Data Officer was
also highlighted at FIMA 2012. It is becoming glaringly apparent that the role
of a CIO (largely though their typical experience) is solely to manage IT
systems and infrastructure, and information management rarely therefore goes
beyond its protection and storage. In order to instead manage data
appropriately as a corporate asset, organisations must therefore hire or
internally develop an individual to take responsibility and ensure this data
governance – a trend I would actively encourage in the near future.
Overall,
FIMA 2012 stoked the coals of a rising Information management emphasis within
the finance sector. It is apparent that the industry is thankfully now seeing
such activity as a necessity. Whether this is through fear of legislative backlash
or a drive to improve efficiency and visibility is largely immaterial, provided
there is a recognition that a failure to store, manage and use data
appropriately is likely to lead to regulatory or customer service-related
horror stories being unveiled at FIMA 2013.
