Situation
Large diversified financial groups increasingly standardise access control using unified, policy-based entitlements across data platforms, applications, and workloads.
Despite this maturity, decision failures continue to occur.
Pattern
- Entitlements are evaluated correctly
- Access is granted in accordance with policy
- Automated or assisted actions proceed
- Accountability is identified only after impact
The organisation behaves consistently at the access layer while producing outcomes that cannot be clearly owned.
Structural Cause
Entitlement systems determine whether access is permitted.
They do not determine who holds authority when the meaning of that access differs across business lines, regulatory obligations, or decision contexts.
Interpretation varies across:
- product and portfolio boundaries
- regulatory perimeters
- customer impact thresholds
- human and automated execution paths
Where authority is implicit, decisions proceed without a clear point of ownership.
Signals
- “The policy allowed it.”
- “No explicit approval was required.”
- “The system acted as designed.”
Resulting Condition
Access consistency is achieved, but decision authority remains unresolved.