Financial institutions and regulators must work together to develop reference data standards, according to attendees at the 3rd Annual Reference Data Management for the Banking Industry conference.

Participants from a number of different institutions, including the European Central Bank, Committee of European Securities Regulators and regulatory think-tank JWG, warned that a “tsunami” of regulatory requirements will soon hit the banking industry, but many are not ready to deal with the new rules.

Reference data describes the structure of objects represented on a software system and the introduction of reference data standards allows for faster and more efficient data sharing between separate entities.

Julia Sutton, director of global reference data at RBC Capital Markets, commented: “This was a real call to arms. It was clear that current data infrastructures across the industry’s information supply chain are not designed for the new regulatory requirements. We’ve been talking about this long enough. We need the right people to set the benchmarks and time is of the essence.”

PJ Di Giammarino, CEO, JWG and chairman of the conference, added: “Large firms are particularly hard hit by new, and often imprecise, information requirements drafted by different authorities across the globe. We are pleased that the industry recognises that a collaborative model is needed to define industry guidance. The regulators and central banks are welcome as catalysts in this effort.”