Why data protection matters to financial services companies and their compliance teams

If there is one thing you can be sure of in the world of financial services it is that as sure of as the sun will come up tomorrow, the regulators will be on your doorstep regulating. At Patrina, we know knowledge is power. That’s why we want to give you plenty of it. We’re teaming up with industry leaders to give you their boots on the ground perspectives on regulatory compliance and living under the watchful gaze of an entire alphabet of regulators.

At Patrina, our mission is to give you the tools to take charge of your business and take charge of compliance. Fines are expensive. Compliance doesn’t have to be.

Read on to hear what Michael Marrano, CISSP, CISM, CISA, co-founder of Risk Analysis & Oversight (RANO) Advisors had to say about the importance of data protection in the financial services industry or click here to access the entire whitepaper… and let’s talk.

Why data protection is so important to every member of the financial services industry

Over the past few years, the digital transformation has increased the complexity of company asset protection regarding defining what must be protected and where it has to be protected. Historically the assets that most companies concerned themselves with protecting were tangible items such as equipment, buildings, and physical inventory.

With the adoption of technology, computers, the internet and the cloud, companies must add data to the top of their list of assets. The data or “crown jewels” could include highly sensitive information such as customer data, employee data, intellectual property and trade secrets.

Data protection challenges

Companies are struggling to protect their data in digital format but also in defining what constitutes sensitive data and where that data should be kept. Security incidents involving unauthorized access to customer, employee, or sensitive business data are inevitable. Technology systems are designed, developed, configured, and maintained by people which increases the potential for human error. For this reason, companies must guard an increasing number of endpoints, manage remote access to data, understand the role of cloud services and third-party vendors – all while dealing with resource constraints.

Data protection in financial services

The financial service sector includes banks, trading firms, broker-dealers, mutual funds, investment advisers, credit unions, credit card processing companies, and other organizations dealing with financial information and monetary assets. The sector is highly regulated as a result of a number of data protection failures and enforcement is rigorous.

At issue is the depth of customer data these companies accrue:

• Personally Identifiable Information (PII) – names, addresses, social security numbers);
• Financial holdings information;
• Beneficiary information; and
• Insurance information.

This data is extremely valuable to the company serving the client and…also valuable and often the target of a firm’s competitors, malicious insiders, and cybercriminals.

Financial service companies are responsible for protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data they collect. Failure to provide due care, or to perform due diligence may result in charges of negligence and regulatory enforcement actions.

Recently, a number of financial service firms have been the object of well-publicized regulatory discipline for their failure to protect client data regardless of whether the data protection failure resulted in harm or foul play. Monetary fines often are the least concerning or damaging aspect of the disciplinary actions. Nonetheless, regulatory risk is a concern for financial service companies and ultimately, their compliance professionals.

Click here to read the entire whitepaper because…

Every investment carries a certain amount of risk. But that’s not what keeps regulators up at night. Rather, it’s bad actors acting badly, who may not even be a part of your organization. That’s why compliance matters. And that’s what keeps compliance professionals like you up at night. So let’s talk (212-233-1155). Ask about Patrina’s comprehensive, 8-module compliance solution and compliant data capture, file storage, and records archiving specifically designed for the financial services community. We’ve got you covered.