Building Data Lineage for Financial Institutions

This white paper examines the challenges faced by large financial institutions, such as HSBC, M&T Bank, and Royal London Asset Management, in implementing effective data lineage solutions. It identifies common failure patterns that arise from organizational barriers, including misaligned incentives, language gaps, and trust deficits. The document outlines how these barriers hinder compliance, impact prediction, and data protection efforts. It also discusses the strategic decisions that Chief Data Officers (CDOs) and IT leaders can make to overcome these challenges and establish sustainable lineage capabilities. The paper emphasizes that successful organizations align business and technical lineage, connect technical flows to business context, and build trust mechanisms to ensure compliance and effective data governance. Furthermore, it highlights the European Central Bank's BCBS 239 update, which mandates advanced lineage at the data attribute level, underscoring the need for organizations to adapt their approaches to meet regulatory requirements.