The data dilemma

Forensic examination of the financial crisis has identified a lack of information - or perhaps more pertinently, lack of a coherent framework in which to look at that information - as a leading culprit. When Lehman Brothers failed in September 2008, many banks were unable to determine a clear picture of what their overall exposures were, while regulators also struggled to piece together the bigger picture.

Yet the information issue is by no means a recent phenomenon. Paradoxically, the industry