Data Verification Time (DVT) is stalling the financial services industry, according to Brian Sentance, CEO of Xenomorph, a data management solutions provider.
Research and other trading staff are spending around half their working day manually validating data, and not enough time analysing it and creating value, he says. With increasing data volumes, data sources and data complexity, this vital productivity issue is set to get worse unless it is effectively addressed, warns Sentance.
“Financial markets move at such a pace that not having the right information to hand is the biggest sin a trading floor can commit. It is essential that the information supporting any trading or risk decision is correct, but it is unacceptable that people in these front line roles are spending so much of their time manually checking through it,”
says Sentance. “I think everyone in the industry acknowledges the theoretical benefits of the ‘Golden Copy’ approach in data automation, but there has been a lack of attention paid to the mundane day-to-day data validation tasks that are part of the daily routine,” he adds.
“We work closely with our clients to automate the validation of all types of data for all asset classes, allowing them to focus on the priority issues that need addressing. From algo trading at one end to structured products at the other, data volumes and complexity are on the up. DVT is clogging up our financial markets, and must be reduced for them to operate efficiently,” he continues.