Automated Economic Data Integration
Company: FirstRand
Industry: Financial Services
Company Size: 50 000+ Employees
About the Company
FirstRand provides a comprehensive range of financial services in South Africa and certain markets in broader Africa. The group also offers certain niche products and services in the UK and India. Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX), FirstRand Limited is the largest financial institution by market capitalisation in Africa. The group’s economists (Quants) rely heavily on accurate and timely economic data to monitor markets, identify investment opportunities, and make informed decisions about when and where to invest.
The Challenge
The client needed a scalable and efficient way to ingest large volumes of economic and statistical data from their API and make it accessible across the group. Previously, data acquisition and management were inconsistent, manual, and resource-intensive, creating delays in delivering vital insights to quantitative teams. Since every team in the group depends on this data, inefficiencies posed significant risks to business operations, analysis, and decision-making.
Our Solution
We developed a serverless data ingestion pipeline using AWS cloud-native services and Python. The solution integrates directly with Econ Data’s APIs through AWS Lambda functions, which automatically fetch datasets and securely store them in Amazon S3. From there, downstream processes consume the data for quantitative modelling and analytics.
The architecture was designed to be lightweight, reliable, and reusable. In fact, it follows the same model successfully implemented with other providers, such as the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), ensuring consistency and scalability across projects. The solution has been running successfully in production for over a year, continuously supplying the group with high-quality data and enabling other business-critical processes.
Key Components of the Solution include:
- Serverless architecture powered by AWS Lambda for cost-efficient scalability.
- Secure, centralized storage of all datasets in Amazon S3.
- Automated API integration for reliable and timely data ingestion.
- Reusable design pattern adopted for other economic data sources.
Benefits to the client
The implementation of the automated ingestion pipeline provided FirstRand with:
- Faster access to market insights: Economists can now analyze data in near real-time.
- Improved efficiency: Automation eliminated manual processes, reducing errors and delays.
- Consistency & reliability: Data delivery is accurate, timely, and trusted by stakeholders.
- Scalability: The architecture can be extended easily to include additional data providers.
- Stronger investment decisions: Quants can confidently assess market opportunities with reliable, up-to-date data.
Technologies and Methodologies Used
- AWS Lambda
- Amazon S3
- Python
The Automated Economic Data Integration project highlights how serverless AWS technologies can simplify and modernize large-scale data ingestion. By streamlining access to economic datasets and ensuring reliable delivery to all teams across the group, the solution improved operational efficiency, reduced manual workload, and created a future-ready template for additional integrations. This project reinforces our commitment to delivering scalable, secure, and impactful cloud-native solutions.
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