Major changes to data protection rules will be Financial Planners’ ‘greatest challenge’ this year and is bigger than many have anticipated, planners have said.

Speaking to Financial Planning Today magazine, planners said that the advent of General Data Protection Regulation on 25 May will require a lot of work.

While laws on data protection law are nothing new, the GDPR extends and bolsters what companies must do, raising the bar in certain respects, giving consumers the right to know much more about how their information is used and stored. Crucially, firms could face heftier fines and punishments for non-compliance.

Keith Churchouse FPFS Chartered FCSI, Chartered and Certified Financial Planner, director of Chapters Financial in Surrey, said GDPR is “bigger than many anticipate”.

Tamsin Caine CFP, head of Financial Planning at Smart Financial in Altrincham, said: “I think that GDPR will prove to be the greatest challenge for Financial Planners this year. While MiFID II has been more immediate, the changes being introduced under GDPR are considerable and will involve a lot of preparation.”

Read the full cover feature with further insight and opinions from Financial Planners from page 28 onwards HERE.

This includes more on what planners have been doing to ensure they comply with MiFID II and what they think about the ongoing Brexit negotiations.

Other key features in the latest issue include:

• A 5 page Special Report on Financial Planners surprising expectations for 2018
• Cashflow Modelling - is the time right to extend its uses to more clients?
Plus:
• Planner Casebook - Tamsin Caine unravels a topical and complex pension transfer case with inspiring rewards
• Top 10 Client Hunter Tips
• Columns from leading Financial Planner Julie Lord, PFS chief executive Keith Richards, CISI head of Financial Planning Jackie Lockie and other key commentators
• DFM news and listings