Tech Spotlight:
Modernising Financial Data Platforms: Balancing Governance and Innovation

Balancing innovation and governance has never been more critical. As AI, cloud migration and automation reshape financial services, data leaders face a defining challenge: How to modernise a financial services data platform for optimal processing, governance and innovation?

In this conversation, our team - Guy Moule, Gergana Tabakova, Martin Sexton, and Marc Hoogstad - delves into the challenges of modernising data ecosystems in financial services, drawing lessons from large-scale institutions and how to avoid pitfalls like poorly governed data lakes.

Marc Hoogstad: If an organisation wants to start modernising, where should they begin?

Gergana Tabakova: They should start with common guidelines, not technology. Many projects begin by collecting data into large repositories without agreeing on naming conventions, validation rules, or responsibilities. That’s the first mistake. Have common guidelines across all data feeding the centralised data lake. That’s what’s missing in most institutions.

Guy Moule: Right. The technical team can only do so much if there’s no agreement on governance. It’s not glamorous, but defining data ownership and standard processes early saves huge pain later.

Martin Sexton: It’s the groundwork for scalability. Without it, every new initiative creates more friction than value.

Marc Hoogstad: What do you think financial services are getting wrong or right about modernisation?

Gergana Tabakova: Many of them have the resources but not the consistency. They gather vast amounts of data, but it’s fragmented because different teams apply different standards.

Guy Moule: Exactly. It’s the classic case of “too much data, not enough alignment.”

Gergana Tabakova: They need unified principles, governance, security, and operational consistency across every data feed into their central lake. Right now, that’s not happening.

Marc Hoogstad: So scale without common rules just multiplies the chaos.

Gergana Tabakova: That’s right. And it’s something we consciously avoid in the centralised transaction database. We might be smaller, but we’re consistent.

Marc Hoogstad: Gergana, you mentioned the centralised transaction database. How does that approach work in practice?

Gergana Tabakova: We make sure every dataset follows the same governance model, same quality checks, same security procedures, and operational processes. That way, when the data arrives, we can trust it. We streamline governance across all datasets: security, operations, and consistency so the data can actually be used.

Guy Moule: That’s the kind of discipline that’s missing at scale. It’s not about building the biggest system, it’s about making the data usable.

Martin Sexton: Yes, and that’s where governance becomes the real innovation driver. 

Marc Hoogstad: Let’s talk about data lakes. They sound powerful, but they often go wrong. Why?

Martin Sexton: Because people build first and govern later. The best lessons often come from what went wrong. Many organisations build their data lakes before they define how to govern them. They think scale equals success, but it doesn’t. A data lake without structure just becomes unmanageable.

Guy Moule: That’s the “data swamp” effect. Without shared governance, your lake is just a dumping ground.

Gergana Tabakova: And then teams can’t find or trust what they need. You lose the value of having the data in the first place.

Marc Hoogstad: So the message is clear: don’t separate governance and innovation.

Martin Sexton: They must be designed together.

Marc Hoogstad: Martin, you also mentioned standards ISO, BCBS 239. How do they fit into this?

Martin Sexton: They’re frameworks that give you clarity and confidence. BCBS 239, for example, is about risk data aggregation and governance, ensuring accuracy and traceability. ISO frameworks deal with process and control. These standards exist to strengthen confidence in decision-making, not to slow it down.

Guy Moule: That’s an important point. Standards shouldn’t be seen as red tape. They help align technical and business teams, so everyone understands what “good” looks like.

Gergana Tabakova: They create a shared language. Once that’s in place, innovation can move faster, not slower.