Patent ID: 8700515

Claim:
A system, comprising: a first database that contains financial securities data comprising data relating to a financial instrument issued by a business entity, wherein said first database employs a financial security identifier as a key to access said financial securities data; a second database that contains business entity data comprising data relating to said business entity, wherein said second database employs an entity identifier uniquely assigned to said business entity as a key to access said business entity data; a master data file that contains corporate family tree linkage information for said business entity; and a computer that executes instructions, configured to: obtain said financial securities data from said first database; match said financial securities data to said business entity data in said second database; associate, from said match, a financial security identifier for said financial instrument with an entity identifier for said business entity, thus yielding a cross-reference between said data relating to said financial instrument and said data relating to said business entity; store said cross-reference in said master data file; utilize said cross-reference and said corporate family tree linkage information from said master data file to identify a corporate structure of said business entity and securities related to said business entity through said corporate structure; and assess risk of said business entity based on said securities related to said business entity through said corporate structure as a measure of risk dispersion.