When the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision released its "Principles for Effective Risk Data Aggregation and Risk Reporting" in January 2013, the aim was clear: help avoid a repeat of the financial crisis of 2008 by ensuring that banks are making decisions based upon timely and accurate risk data. The crisis revealed that many banks had deficiencies in their ability to aggregate risk exposures, and their failure to make risk decisions in a timely fashion had consequences for both the institutions and the global financial market as a whole.