In 2023, European supervisory authorities imposed €746 million in GDPR fines on financial institutions. Under GDPR Article 83, institutions face fines up to €20 million or 4% of annual global turnover—whichever is higher. Bank of Ireland waited 21 months to fix system flaws showing customer account information to wrong users. When they finally reported the breaches, regulators fined them €750,000—not just for the breach itself, but for failing to report without undue delay. Our GDPR EU Essentials course covers essential compliance requirements for financial services professionals including lawful bases, data subject rights, international transfers, and breach response procedures.

The course covers personal data types in financial services, lawful bases selection (contract for account opening, legal obligation for AML checks, consent or legitimate interests for marketing), Data Protection Officer requirements for large-scale systematic monitoring, and international data transfers requiring Standard Contractual Clauses for countries without adequacy decisions. Learners explore the eight GDPR rights including Right of Access (30-day timeline), Right to Rectification, and Right to Erasure balanced against AML 5-year retention requirements. Interactive content includes comparison tools showing GDPR's transformation, carousel scenarios, and breach response timelines requiring regulatory notification within 72 hours.

By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

CPD Certified