It’s interesting that in a recent interview with DQ expert Tom Redman (www.dataqualitypro.com/tom-redman-interview), he voiced the opinion that Sarbanes Oxley has failed and I have to agree.

I do question how much the credit crunch is down to poor DQ. I think competitive practices and lack of regulatory control from the government are probably bigger issues but I also agree that there needs to be far more transparency and visibility that DQ can afford, as Tom mentions in the same article, banks simply don’t trust each others statements.

I remember 3 years ago a close friend of mine who had been made bankrupt in the past, defaulted on his previous mortgage 5 times and was then granted a self-cert mortgage for x4 times his salary. He’s struggling to keep afloat today.

I remember thinking at the time, this kind of practice is going to have ramifications down the line, and it clearly has. Millions of these mortgages have been sold in a competitive frenzy with companies hedging their bets that the economy would remain stable.

The thing is, the mortgage company knew all about my friends history. They knew he was a bad risk yet they still made that decision because of the market forces. I feel that is the type of situation we need to prevent in the future, DQ can help but if a company flies in the face of it then there is little we can do.