Custodians and asset servicers believe they are sitting on top of a gold mine. The traditionally unglamorous job of collecting, validating and packaging data, activities that sit at the core of their business, has the potential to contribute a steady and lucrative stream of revenue.

Jay Hooley, president, chairman and chief executive of State Street, the second largest custodian in the world with $25.4 trillion of assets under custody, told Financial News: "There is a huge opportunity sitting in the laps of custodians. But only if they see it and get on top of it… a lot of our future value will be determined in the data and analytics space."