Best Risk Data Aggregation Provider: GoldenSource

Data management has slowly crept into the risk domain, with risk managers increasingly recognizing the value of high-quality data and supporting initiatives geared towards enhancing data that feeds risk calculation models. Reflecting this trend is the introduction of the Best Risk Data Aggregation Provider category, and the vendor that has landed this inaugural award is software provider GoldenSource, which comes from a data management background and has expanded into risk.

GoldenSource has been synonymous with enterprise data management for decades but, in the past couple of years, has expanded into risk data management, launching the GoldenSource Risk Master Module, which can be used for managing and storing data inputs required for risk calculations and the optimized results of risk calculations. Charlie Browne, head of market data and risk solutions at GoldenSource, says: “If you enter non‑standardized risk sensitivities and market data and data pulled together from spreadsheets and ad hoc locations throughout banks, the chances are you’ll really struggle.”

Instead, GoldenSource set out to help firms ensure the quality in the data inputs is up to standard, and to bridge the gap between risk calculation providers and data management technology providers. The first step was to build a prototype for granular Fundamental Review of the Trading Book calculations to prove that the approach and tools worked. “It’s an incredibly detailed and prescriptive set of rules, and to comply all banks need to lift up the drains,” says Browne.

For the judges, the vendor’s data background stood out, with them hailing GoldenSource as a “market leader in this space,” highlighting that a winning formula appears to have been to “start off with a very good platform, and add risk data management to it.”

Next, GoldenSource will be showcasing the integrated nature of the product, and how existing modules for high‑performance time-series data, risk factors and risk positions can be combined to address other industry challenges, such as valuation adjustments. “Regulation has freed up some budget for banks to properly get decent data platforms in place. If you get the data right for one regulation and you get a proper underlying data platform in place, the same data can be reused over and over again,” says Browne.

Another trend boosting the business case for GoldenSource Risk Master is the move towards risk being managed centrally instead of only being assessed at desk level. “Centralization of risk is a common theme, and to do it properly you need ways to store, manage and aggregate data across different dimensions,” says Browne.

Read more about the IMD/IRD Awards 2018 winners