Reference/Master Data Management Opportunity for All of Us

Raise your hand if your programs have ever struggled with the ”official names” of organizations. Wow! Did you hear that WHOOSH around the world? Yep, it’s a universal problem, with big, big consequences.

Finally, someone is doing something about it. A massive project is underway to develop a standardized list of names of “legal entities” for financial institutions. And you – yes all of you – have a range of opportunities

Participate in its development, data validation, assignment, or maintenance process
Ensure that your leadership is aware of this (if they may be candidates for the list)
Read the linked materials to get a glimpse into very-large-scale efforts to standardize reference/master data
Use their approach to inform your internal efforts
Follow their efforts to collect lessons learned
Pass along this news to others who work with reference/master data
Use it as an example of how really difficult data management efforts can be addressed through cooperation.

Following is a message from Michael Atkin of the (Enterprise Data Management) EDM Council:

The legal entity identification process is moving to the next stage. The requirements document (collaboratively developed by the financial institutions) was released on May 3. The Solicitation of Interest invites any/all interested parties to indicate their interest in participating in the development, data validation, assignment and maintenance process to submit their intent for consideration by the LEI facilitation team. Instructions on how to engage – including deadlines and open questions are contained within the SOI. The deadlines are tight (IOI by 5/18, submissions by 6/3, short list interviews by 6/17 and final recommendation by 7/8).

There are quite a few processes taking place simultaneously (i.e. selection of the standards body; selection of the registration authority including how to navigate the “already in process” ISO mechanism; reconciliation of open issues with global regulators; selection of supporting organizations for data validation and data enrichment; clarification of the role of value added providers). The EDM Council is on the LEI Steering Committee. If you need assistance understanding the mechanisms and the objectives of the SOI, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly. If you prefer, you may send your questions, comments, suggestions, etc. to leiteam@sifma.org