It always is, was and will be about the Data, Stupid

Apparently, more than 40% of senior bankers believe better data quality and availability are really quite important to improve risk management.

So many cliches, such lack of imagination and inventiveness, such an overdose of the obvious remedies.

A story like this comes along every few weeks - and every time I read one I have to resist the temptation to follow the time-honoured traditon of the famous "mad as hell" scene in the classic 1976 movie Network and open my window too. (Watch this clip now and marvel at the relevance if you haven't seen it yet)

Unfortunately the windows in this office building don't open.

Well of course data is important - but aren't you bored with the lip service, procrastination, groupthink and general mediocrity of the debate around data and risk management?

Why go over the same old tired ground again when radical ideas  like these are around to discuss, dissect and (dis)agree with:

-using free and open data, models and tools

-call for radical data transparency

-'data trades inversely to liquidity.'

I will blog about these in more detail - but for now can I suggest a few entries in  a draft pocket Dictionary of Accepted Ideas, to get the madness part out of the way?

Credit Crunch Dictionary of Accepted Ideas (with apologies to G Flaubert)

Transparency  : Always a good thing - can't have enough of it. All crises are caused by lack of it.

Regulation  : Inevitable, always more of it on its way. Americans and Europeans always disagree on every aspect of it.

Harmonisation : see Politics

Derivatives  : Always "complex". Root cause of all evil - so complex even their creators don't understand anything at all about them. Might be part of alien plot.

Data :  Absolutely crucial to everything. It is the "lifeblood" of everything else. If a process is broken just make it data-driven. That will solve it.

CDO : Might be different from CDS - not sure how, but definitely different probably.

etc etc ad infinitum/nauseam (What are your favourite credit crunch cliches? Any and all contributions welcome).

With the cliches out of the way  - over my next few blog posts let's have a look at why the old remedies (and most of the new ones) won't work, and why I believe we are on the cusp of a data revolution. Semantic webs. mash-ups, free and open everything - now there is something to shout about.