About a-team Marketing Services
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry
The knowledge platform for the financial technology industry

A-Team Insight Blogs

General Data Protection Regulation Calls for Increased Investment in Data Security and Governance

Subscribe to our newsletter

Paul Nemitz, the director for fundamental rights in the justice directorate of the European Commission, has warned companies operating in the EU that they must invest in data security to ensure they can demonstrate compliance with the data privacy by design and security elements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and thus reduce potential fines for breaches.

Speaking at a recent conference in Brussels, Nemitz said GDPR will require many companies to increase investment in data security, which will not only lead to compliance, but also competitive gains in the market.

GDPR comes into force on May 25, 2018 and is designed to harmonise data privacy laws across Europe, protect EU citizens’ data privacy and reshape the way organisations across the region approach data privacy. While the regulation sustains the key principles of data privacy established in a 1995 directive, it extends many of these and clarifies ambiguous territorial applicability by stating that it applies to all companies processing personal data of data subjects residing in the EU regardless of company location.

The impact of GDPR on financial services firms will be significant, requiring firms to reconsider how they build data management systems and manage personal data. Those that do this well and take a proactive approach to compliance should benefit from improved customer communication, strategic data management and a higher level of trust in the market. For those that breach compliance, the stakes are high – reputational damage and fines of up to 4% of annual turnover or €20 million – making it essential that companies respond to GDPR with a data governance framework that can support effective design and also provide evidence of the organisation’s commitment to privacy by design and default.

To find out more about approaches to GDPR compliance, join A-Team Group’s webinar, GDPR: How to build a data protection framework, on October 18, 2016. The webinar will be hosted by A-Team editor Sarah Underwood and joined by Koen Van Duyse, subject matter expert on regulatory compliance at Collibra, and Dennis Slattery, designer of the Data Management Agenda for Privacy at EDMworks.

The webinar will discuss:

  • Requirements of GDPR
  • Challenges of implementation
  • How to build a data protection framework
  • Tools to support data governance
  • How to ensure ongoing compliance
Subscribe to our newsletter

Related content

WEBINAR

Upcoming Webinar: Are Your Legacy Voice Recordings a Compliance Time Bomb?

2 July 2025 10:00am ET | 3:00pm London | 4:00pm CET Duration: 50 Minutes Recent enforcement actions underscore the importance of maintaining accurate, secure and up-to-date voice and electronic communication. For some organisations, legacy voice recording systems are not at or beyond end-of-life, posing significant compliance, operational and financial risks. These outdated systems often fail...

BLOG

Scalability the Keyword Behind S&P Global’s Enriched iLEVEL

S&P Global Market Intelligence’s update to its iLEVEL private markets data tool has been designed to enable firms to scale their engagements in private markets. The financial data company is betting that financial institutions’ growing engagement in these markets is such that they will need the sort of data provisions associated with public markets. S&P...

EVENT

RegTech Summit New York

Now in its 9th year, the RegTech Summit in New York will bring together the RegTech ecosystem to explore how the North American capital markets financial industry can leverage technology to drive innovation, cut costs and support regulatory change.

GUIDE

AI in Capital Markets: Practical Insight for a Transforming Industry – Free Handbook

AI is no longer on the horizon – it’s embedded in the infrastructure of modern capital markets. But separating real impact from inflated promises requires a grounded, practical understanding. The AI in Capital Markets Handbook 2025 provides exactly that. Designed for data-driven professionals across the trade life-cycle, compliance, infrastructure, and strategy, this handbook goes beyond...