With the right tools, financial sector is a data trove

If you realise that the financial sector is one big administrative system, then think of the huge amount of data that it contains. It’s a treasure trove of information about people’s economic behaviour, but there are implications for using new technology to make use of it, said Professor Dion Bongaerts in his inaugural address as newly appointed Professor of Financial Technology and Data Analytics at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). His lecture on 13 June, entitled ‘The financial sector as a data trove’ explored the invisible infrastructure behind financial market data and the way information is collected, stored, analysed, and applied.

He intends to pursue research to understand more about the limitations and trade-offs in ‘synthetic data’ as a first step in inducing banks, insurers and other institutions to share data. Synthetic data generators create a representative, fake version of original data from which the original data (or elements of it) cannot be reconstructed.

He also intends to explore the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to measure aspects of companies, securities or individuals that cannot be captured well enough using conventional data.

Professor Dion Bongaerts is based in the Department of Finance at RSM, and is also Expert Practice Director of Fintech in the Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics.

His inaugural lecture is available as an online recording and as an accompanying book.

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Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers. www.rsm.nl

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