Why is shredding vital in the finance sector?
If there is one thing that is prized above all when it comes to financial matters, it is confidentiality. From personal finances through to issues that affect large public companies, keeping sensitive figures, projections, standards or reports away from those that shouldn’t see them is a priority. There are not only potential cost and competition implications in failing to keep certain data safe but legal and reputational issues too. In a sector such as finance, safe document disposal is critical to the future of the business, which is why shredding is a vital investment.
Safeguarding against the misuse of corporate documentation
Every business has paper waste and some of it will be harmless in the wrong hands. However, there are some documents that could reveal vital corporate information that can easily be misused. Loan agreements or financial analysis reports are obvious examples of corporate documents that can be readily misused. However, there may also be other documents that contain information, such as bank or credit card details, that provide opportunities for misuse that the business may not even be aware of. Shredding is vital to ensure that no document generated by the business can ever be used against its interests.
Protecting data subjects
Every business handling sensitive or personal data now has added responsibilities to ensure that this is safely disposed of. Financial data is almost always considered sensitive and/or personal and poor disposal can expose data subjects to a range of risks, including identity theft and fraud. Mitigating against those risks is essential for any business in the financial sector, not just to ensure that customer and client trust is retained but also to meet compliance with legal standards, such as the GDPR. Failing to protect data can have a range of consequences, from million pound fines, to customer or client attrition – shredding is the only way to effectively dispose of documented data.
Avoiding data breaches
A data breach today can take many forms, from a digital hack to a confidential financial report or set of figures improperly disposed of and picked up by a third party. Data breaches can be incredibly costly for any business in the financial sector and there are many different ways in which they can happen with physical documents, from disposal in public bins through to recycling bins that are raided by malicious third parties. Shredding is the only way to ensure that a data breach doesn’t occur as a result of poor document disposal. The contents of a shredded document are completely unrecognisable and so the data cannot be retrieved by anyone else.
Implementing best practice
Standards are high in the financial sector and implementing best practice with respect to document disposal is a key expectation. Shredding on-site provides an effective way to implement best practice. When you work with an on-site shredding partner like Shred On Site, we provide an FSA approved method of document destruction that guarantees your waste will be shredded. We even provide a Certificate of Destruction that conforms to ISO9001 regulations to guarantee the secure destruction of your confidential papers. Contact us to find out more.
Author: Mark Coombes, Follow me on Google+
