While many banks use the London Stock Exchange Group\u2019s real time market information, few are aware of the scale of the transformation process the group has embarked on over the past half decade.<\/p>\n
The London Stock Exchange is one of the world\u2019s oldest exchanges, becoming today\u2019s LSEG when it merged with Milan\u2019s Borsa Italiana in 2007.<\/p>\n
More recently, it has shifted its data strategy from a compliance-only initiative to something more commercially driven \u2014 a change it describes as moving from a \u201cdefensive\u201d practice to an \u201coffensive\u201d approach.<\/p>\n
Operating in more than 60 countries, LSEG employs over 26,000 people globally. Debbie Lawrence, LSEG\u2019s group head of data strategy and management, and David Thomas, the group\u2019s head of data trust, data & analytics & commercial data, have been at the heart of the group\u2019s data lineage journey since it began, tracking data from origin to consumption.<\/p>\n
It started in 2021 with a syndication of the stock exchange\u2019s approach and strategy that year. LSEG brought data management firm Solidatus on board in 2022, with the process beginning in earnest the following year with the start of the group\u2019s dataset and lineage mapping process.<\/p>\n
LSEG should complete most of its early plans \u2014 the initial mapping of its 1400 datasets \u2014 by mid-2026, with ongoing maintenance thereafter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started this journey probably looking down the barrel of increasing data regulation around the world,\u201d Lawrence said, with LSEG now aspiring to be \u201cmarket leading\u201d in data governance.<\/p>\n
Career history: Debbie Lawrence<\/p>\n
2020-present: Group head, data strategy & management, LSEG<\/p>\n
2018: Global head of data management and strategy, Refinitiv<\/p>\n
2012: Head of investment management product and content, Thomson Reuters<\/p>\n
2010: VP, head of fundamentals content operations, Thomson Reuters<\/p>\n
2008: Head of client services, MFT, a Fidelity International Company<\/p>\n
Thomas, formerly a data executive with Barclays and HSBC, immediately asked questions around tooling, lineage and data dictionaries when he joined LSEG in 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the time, Lawrence recalled thinking \u201cwe\u2019ve been a data company for 150 years\u2009.\u2009.\u2009.\u2009we\u2019ve got all of this\u201d. But the need to invest and the work required quickly became clear, she said.<\/p>\n
LSEG is working to shift its approach to data the \u201cdefensive\u201d \u2014 designed to fend off regulation \u2014 to the offensive, Thomas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a commercial data organisation, so [our approach looks at] how we align with that, and turn data governance and things that come alongside that \u2014 like the cataloguing capability and offering metadata services to our customers \u2014 to be a far more offensive use, and really trying to align that with our commercial offerings,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Solidatus is a \u201csmart offering\u201d for that, with its visualisation capability instrumental in proving to people that data lineage can be done, Thomas said.<\/p>\n
David Thomas<\/p>\n
2021-present: Head of data trust, data & analytics & LSEG commercial data, LSEG<\/p>\n
2018: Global head of data management & Emea CDO, HSBC<\/p>\n
2017: Regulatory CDO & Emea, UK & Menat CDO, HSBC<\/p>\n
2014: Global head of ClientHub, HSBC<\/p>\n
2010: Global head of client data, Barclays<\/p>\n
2006: Director, global head of client data, ABN AMRO<\/p>\n
2000: Project manager, UBS<\/p>\n
HSBC, Goldman Sachs and BNY are among some of the banks that also use the tooling, with the latter currently infusing data practices \u201cat the core of how the bank does business\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n A \u2018catalyst\u2019 for better data management<\/p>\n