This niche tech role looks set to take off

This is niche, but if you’re a data analyst working in a bank without a dedicated team dealing with legal entity data management, expect there to be some opportunities in the future.

Investment banks are, of course, grappling with a raft of new regulations – and the subsequent increased demands on data management and reporting – but the spend on legal data management technology is set to spiral in the next three years.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, more firms have had to shake-up their counterparty risk exposure assessment capabilities and being able to accurately identify legal entities is a key component of this, according to new research by consultancy Aite Group. Currently, the large sell-side firms are spending an estimated $95.5m annually on this, it suggests, and this figure could increase to $197.5m by 2015.

From a recruitment point of view, this means new jobs being created, suggests Virginie O’Shea, an analyst at Aite Group and author of the report.

“Legal entity data management teams will appear in firms that currently lack such a function, and technology spending to further automate the space will gradually rise,” she says. “One tier-one sell-side firm noted that its spending on legal entity data has risen 100% over the last five years, and we expect many more firms to engage in similar levels of investment.”

So far, however, recruiters suggest that it’s more of a trickle than a flood of these sorts of roles on the market.

“We’re not seeing a huge job flow for reference data technology roles, but banks are recruiting,” says Ben Cowan, director of recruiters Astbury Marsden. “Banks are dealing with data requirements around KYC regulation, FACTA and CASS, but the fundamental investment is in creating greater data clarity across the disparate business areas.”

Comparatively speaking, database manager roles are not amazingly well-paid. At the junior end, a database DBA can expect £35-45k, according to recruiters Hudson, while this rise to £70-95k in the senior ranks. Both database designers and develop positions can pay up to £100k.