Data governance helps banks stay compliant in a digital world
Many financial institutions are looking for ways to leverage new technologies like AI and blockchain to develop new services and better meet customer needs. Adopting these technologies often means going digital and moving IT solutions that were previously on-premises to the cloud to gain more power and storage and reduce administration. IT and compliance teams may worry that putting data in the cloud gives them less control and insight, but that is far from the truth. Moving to the cloud often helps financial institutions get a better handle on where their data lives and how to manage it—which is critical as evolving industry and government regulations regarding data management and protection are becoming more stringent.
At Sibos 2018 in Sydney, Australia, Microsoft showcased how comprehensive data governance technologies help financial institutions streamline and automate data governance processes. To learn more about our stand point on how better data management helps banks comply with ever-changing global compliance standards, read on.
Data governance and the need to go digital
Data governance refers to practices and processes that help financial institutions manage and protect data. Having an effective data governance approach has grown in importance as financial institutions, like most businesses today, face significant data overload. Not only do banks need to process more data, they need to understand the value of using data to drive innovation and modernize their operations and services.
Without the technology to properly filter, store, and protect data, financial institutions can’t differentiate between sensitive data assets that require higher levels of protection and those needed to run accurate client reports. Unfortunately, most banks today still have manual approaches to data governance, which can’t keep up with the pace of modern business. In fact, 69% of institutions don’t have procedures in place to ensure the creation of reports with relevant information, underlining the lack of insight they have into their data. In addition, because banks store huge amounts of unnecessary data, customers’ sensitive personal and financial data as well as company IP is put at greater risk of being compromised.
As if data governance wasn’t challenging enough, regulations are placing even more pressure on banks to get it under control. Penalties for data violations are stiff and companies need to be aware – 50% of affected US organizations aren’t compliant with the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and face fines up to four percent of their annual global revenue. To cope in such a challenging environment and better manage their data, banks are starting to look toward the cloud and digital technologies for answers. The cloud can also support the implementation of additional encryption and key management, a matter of utmost importance in a such a highly regulated industry.
Intelligent governance
To help maintain the integrity and confidentiality of data, Microsoft offers agile cloud technologies like Customer Lockbox for Azure and Compliance Manager. With Customer Lockbox, financial institutions can maximize data security and privacy by controlling the approval loop in the very rare occurrence a Microsoft support engineer needs to request access to customer content to resolve an issue. This allows the organization to continue to maintain full visibility and control over data and meet FedRAMP compliance requirements.
Microsoft and its partners are leaders in compliance, and our data governance solutions provide what financial institutions need to stay ahead of evolving regulations. To learn more about enhancing your data governance and privacy, visit Microsoft Trust Center for Financial Services.
