Continue reading
Data Management
Five years after data compliance requirement BCBS 239 was introduced, Rob Konowalchuk investigates what’s changed and where banks are heading.
Just over five years ago, a document hit our reading lists from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), which triggered a renewed industry in data management programmes in banks. By that point, we were used to reading new rules overhauling banks’ capital and liquidity requirements.
But this one was different. It began: “One of the most significant lessons learned from the global financial crisis that began in 2007 was that banks’ information technology (IT) and data architectures were inadequate to support the broad management of financial risks.” The document then defined 11 principles aimed at banks’ governance over infrastructure supporting risk data, risk data aggregation capability and reporting practices. Five years is typically sufficient to implement a new regulation, so it is reasonable to ask: are banks conforming and has BCBS 239 been a success? This is difficult to answer.