In financial services, the understanding of regulated data and dark data are fundamental to shaping internal informed comprehensive compliance programs, governance decisions and bringing valuable business insights. These data types form a critical internal ecosystem for regulatory purposes, where compliance extends beyond its cost to the business; it is essential to preserving market integrity, safeguarding sensitive information, and aligning with constantly evolving regulatory frameworks, as well as bringing insights.
Regulated data is central to the operations of financial institutions. Collected to meet specific mandates, this data includes critical information used in processes like customer onboarding, anti-money laundering (AML) procedures, and Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols. Beyond operations, regulated data covers privacy-centric information, particularly under the GDPR, which places strict requirements on the handling, processing, and retention of personal data. This also extends to data captured before, during, and after trade activities, where accuracy and transparency are non-negotiable. Additionally, regulated communication data—such as recorded phone calls and email exchanges—is stored as an essential component in preserving financial market integrity and preventing abuse. Each of these data categories is actively managed, through different regulatory with protocols ensuring the data’s availability and accessibility as needed according to regulatory expectations.
Dark data is data that an organisation stores but seldom uses, including data collected for regulated purposes, Not so long ago, it would be files and records tucked away in forgotten storage rooms—dark data still exists it has now become digital, consisting of all the information accumulated in day-to-day business but never analysed or applied. This includes data from web traffic logs, visitor tracking, former employee emails, old customer records, and more. The existence of dark data presents a challenge: it incurs storage costs and security risks. Without proper management, dark data can pose liabilities.
There are various reasons why data goes dark. Often, it stems from a lack of awareness or understanding of its value. In the case of communication data captured for regulatory purposes, data may be stored in isolated silos, resulting in fragmentation that leaves potentially valuable information hidden from other teams, and unavailable for truly data-driven business insights. Additionally, legacy systems—no longer in active use but still holding data—can add to this digital stockpile. In some cases, data is simply still stored as a precaution in compliance with internal policies or because resources and time are focused on immediate operational demands. Dark data also arises from poor data quality; inconsistent, inaccurate, or incomplete data, lacking the normalisation step that is so key to Custodia CC1 services, often goes ignored.
Compliance obligations apply to all data, regardless of its intended use. Inadequately managed dark data may still contain sensitive details requiring compliance with privacy laws. Moreover, organisations are responsible for addressing data governance and access or DSARs, which means even dark data must be accessible if requested by individuals or regulators. Ignoring this responsibility could result in non-compliance and substantial fines. The costs go beyond monetary: dark data also impacts environmental and sustainability goals. Data stored unnecessarily consumes energy and drives up a company’s carbon footprint. In this context, deleting redundant data becomes an ESG advantage.
How Does CC1 Help?
CC1 services focuses on making sure dark data, such as regulated communication compliance data, is centralised and normalised across businesses and can drive business insights. CC1 streamlines compliance efforts, securing archived data while automating the discovery process, making the task of handling dark data less overwhelming. Advanced technologies, accessible through CC1 APIs, allow our clients to optimise your compliance data resources for better decision-making, and enhanced surveillance capabilities.
