Approach needed to improve risk management data quality

Information used for risk management purposes could be improved if financial providers take an enterprise-wide approach to data quality.

This is according to Daragh O'Brien, a member of the International Association for Information and Data Quality, who said it is tempting to blame the recent financial crisis on poor information.

"Of course, these things are never that simple. However, when the onion of root causes is peeled back, inevitably we find that decisions were being made on the basis of incomplete, inconsistent, inaccurate or just plain missing information," he commented.

It is not easy to access the timely and accurate data needed for risk management. However, transparency could be increased if operations are simplified and a broad strategy for controlling valuable information is adopted, Mr O'Brien added.

A recent study carried out by independent research provider Lepus revealed that three-quarters of financial service providers plan to increase spending on data quality projects over the coming year.