Microsoft Fabric For Financial Services

Why Microsoft Fabric for Financial Services Now

Microsoft Fabric (GA late 2024) is an essential data platform for financial services. This release is the most important since the cloud data warehouse. Fabric simplifies tasks related to risk, finance, surveillance, and regulatory reporting. It replaces the disconnected systems that many banks and asset managers currently use, including:

• Risk management systems
• Financial reporting tools
• Surveillance applications
• Regulatory compliance software

• Risk management systems
• Financial reporting tools
• Surveillance applications
• Regulatory compliance solutions

• Teradata
• Oracle
• Hadoop
• Snowflake
• Databricks
• Synapse

The convergence of these technologies is driven by several key features:

• OneLake unified storage: Eliminates data movement between BI, ML, and warehouse workloads.
• Direct Lake on Power BI: Removes import-refresh delays, which are critical for intraday risk dashboards.
• Native Microsoft Purview integration: Provides catalog, lineage, and classification at the data-platform layer.
• Sentinel integration: Enhances audit and compliance capabilities.
• Copilot for Fabric: Introduces natural-language queries for risk and finance analysts.

EPC Group's Fabric FSI practice draws on Errin O'Connor's expertise. He served as the Lead Architect at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Errin is also a 4× Microsoft Press author, focusing on Power BI and data platforms.

The firm has successfully migrated Fortune 500 banks and asset managers from:

• Snowflake
• Teradata
• to Fabric

Reference Architecture

Ingestion. Data is ingested through various methods to ensure comprehensive coverage:

• Trade, order, and market data: Collected in real-time using Eventstream.
• Position, balance, and ledger data: Acquired in batches via Data Factory.
• Customer, counterparty, and sanctions data: Also sourced through Data Factory.
• Communication data: Includes email, chat, and voice transcription, accessed via Microsoft Purview connectors for surveillance workloads.
• Reference data: Covers instruments, counterparties, and market data hierarchies, obtained through custom ingestion or third-party reference data providers.

Storage. OneLake uses a medallion architecture with three levels: bronze (raw), silver (cleansed and validated), and gold (analytics-ready). It consistently employs the Delta Lake format.

Each regulatory domain has its own dedicated workspace, including:

• Risk
• Finance
• Surveillance
• AML
• Treasury

Microsoft Information Barriers ensure restricted cross-domain access when ethical walls are needed.

Compute. The solution includes Fabric Lakehouse, Warehouse, Real-Time Analytics, Notebooks, and Data Science workloads. Notebooks support Python and Spark for risk modeling, including:

• VaR
• Expected shortfall
• PD/LGD/EAD
• FRTB SBM/IMA
• Stress testing

The Warehouse is used for regulatory reporting, covering:

• FRTB
• OATS/CAT
• MiFID II

Real-Time Analytics aids in surveillance and intraday risk. Data Science focuses on AML ML models, fraud detection, and churn prediction.

Serving. Power BI semantic models are available through Direct Lake. We provide row-level security and object-level security to enforce ethical walls.

We provide Copilot for Power BI. This feature lets users ask questions in natural language about risk and finance. It also includes:

• Restricted Search
• IB configuration
• MNPI workspaces

Governance. Microsoft Purview catalog + lineage + classification across the entire Fabric estate. Sensitivity labels for MNPI + customer PII + trade secret content. Audit logs to Sentinel.

High-Value Use Cases

Portfolio risk aggregation. We provide position-level, counterparty-level, and market-data-level aggregation across various asset classes. These include:

• Equities
• Fixed income
• Derivatives
• FX
• Commodities
• Structured products

Our Real-Time Analytics help with intraday risk management. We use a Lakehouse for end-of-day risk, stress testing, and scenario analysis.

We also provide Power BI semantic models for:

• Risk committee reporting
• Regulatory submissions
• Basel III RWA
• CCAR/DFAST stress testing
• ICAAP

Trade surveillance. This involves trade, order, market data, and communication ingestion into Real-Time Analytics and Lakehouse. We use custom KQL and Spark analytics to identify:

• Spoofing
• Layering
• Front-running
• Wash trading
• Insider trading patterns

Our system integrates with NICE Actimize, NASDAQ SMARTS, or custom rule sets. It is documented as the surveillance system of record for the firm's WSPs.

Regulatory reporting. We offer a consolidated regulatory reporting platform that covers various requirements. This includes:

• FINRA OATS / CAT
• MiFID II / MiFIR
• SFTR
• EMIR
• FRTB capital reporting
• LIBOR transition
• CCAR / DFAST

Our Fabric Warehouse serves as the regulatory-grade store of record. It ensures audit-quality lineage through Microsoft Purview.

Counterparty exposure + credit risk. We aggregate counterparty-level exposure across various products, entities, and jurisdictions. Our services include:

• Margining and collateral management
• Pre-trade and post-trade credit risk assessment
• Default risk modeling using PD, LGD, and EAD

We utilize Fabric Notebooks and Azure ML for these processes.

AML transaction monitoring. This involves the ingestion of customer, transaction, counterparty, and sanctions data. It includes:

• Rule sets and machine learning models for detecting suspicious activity.
• Integration of case management with operational AML platforms.
• Documentation as the AML data layer for the firm’s BSA/AML program.
• SAR drafting through the Copilot Studio agent.

Engagement Investment

Foundation ($250K-$500K, 16-24 weeks): Single-workload Fabric implementation — risk OR surveillance OR regulatory reporting OR AML. F64 or F128 capacity. ~50 user pilot.

Enterprise ($550K-$1.4M, 28-44 weeks): Multi-workload + full data platform + Center of Excellence + Managed Microsoft Support. F128 or F256. Mid-size bank or asset manager.

Platform ($1.4M-$4M, 44-72 weeks): Enterprise + Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services + multi-entity federation + DR + audit support across multiple jurisdictions. F256+. Large bank, GSE, large insurance carrier.

Related Pages

• Financial Services Industry Practice (broader scope)
• Power BI Consulting for Financial Services
• Microsoft Copilot for Financial Services
• Microsoft Fabric Consulting (all industries)
• Power BI / Fabric License Cost Guide
• FINRA + SEC Controls Checklist