Empower your fintech organization to enhance security, protect financial data, and demonstrate operational excellence with Glocert International's specialized ISO certifications, security assessments, and compliance solutions.
Fintech companies handle highly sensitive financial and customer data, operate under strict regulatory oversight, and are subject to evolving cybersecurity, privacy, and financial sector regulations. The combination of regulatory pressure, financial data sensitivity, operational risk, rapid innovation, and third-party exposure creates unique compliance challenges that require specialized expertise and fintech-specific solutions.
Fintech companies must navigate multiple regulatory frameworks including PCI DSS (payment card security), SOC requirements (service organization controls), RBI regulations (India), SEBI regulations (India), GDPR (EU), and local financial sector regulations. Understanding which regulations apply and how they intersect is critical for maintaining compliance, avoiding penalties, and protecting financial data across different jurisdictions. Fintech-specific regulations vary by services offered and jurisdictions served.
Many fintech companies make critical mistakes including treating compliance as a checkbox exercise instead of a governance system, implementing security controls without aligning with business processes, ignoring third-party and vendor risk, failing to maintain evidence between audits, and insufficient payment card security. Understanding these common pitfalls helps organizations avoid costly compliance failures and regulatory penalties.
Understanding which regulations apply to your fintech organization and how they intersect is critical for maintaining compliance and protecting financial data.
PCI DSS: Required for fintech companies that accept, process, store, or transmit payment card data. Applies to payment processors, digital wallets, and fintech platforms handling cardholder data.
RBI Regulations (India): Required for fintech companies operating in India, including RBI IS compliance, payment aggregator regulations, and digital lending guidelines.
SEBI Regulations (India): Required for fintech companies offering investment services, trading platforms, or wealth management services in India.
GDPR (EU): Required for fintech companies processing personal data of EU residents, including financial data and transaction information.
SOC 2: Commonly required by enterprise customers and partners for fintech service providers. Demonstrates security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy controls.
ISO/IEC 27001: Widely recognized information security management system standard, often required for enterprise contracts, partnerships, and regulatory compliance in fintech.
ISO/IEC 27701: Privacy information management system extension to ISO 27001, helping fintech organizations demonstrate GDPR and other privacy law compliance.
Operational Resilience: Increasing focus on business continuity and operational resilience for fintech companies, including ISO 22301 and regulatory requirements.
Third-Party Risk: Enhanced scrutiny of third-party vendors, payment processors, and service providers in fintech operations.
AI Governance: Growing emphasis on AI systems in fintech, including transparency, bias, and ethical use requirements for AI-powered financial services.
These certifications help fintech organizations demonstrate compliance, protect financial data, and meet regulatory requirements.
For information security governance. Provides a systematic approach to managing information security risks and protecting financial data across fintech operations.
Learn MoreFor service organization controls. Commonly required by enterprise customers and partners for fintech service providers. Demonstrates security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy controls.
Learn MoreFor payment card security. Required for fintech companies that accept, process, store, or transmit payment card data. Ensures secure handling of cardholder data and payment transactions.
Learn MoreFor privacy management. Extends ISO 27001 to provide a privacy information management system aligned with GDPR, CCPA, and other privacy regulations, essential for fintech companies handling customer financial data.
Learn MoreFor business continuity. Ensures fintech organizations can maintain critical operations and financial services during disruptions, essential for operational resilience.
Learn MoreFor India financial sector compliance. Reserve Bank of India Information Security framework for fintech companies operating in India, including payment aggregators and digital lenders.
Learn MoreFor financial controls. Demonstrates Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting (ICFR) for fintech companies handling financial transactions and processes.
Learn MoreFor risk management. Strengthens risk management capabilities and enhances organizational resilience in fintech operations, addressing financial, operational, and technology risks.
Learn MoreUnderstanding these common pitfalls helps fintech organizations avoid costly compliance failures and build more effective security and compliance programs.
Many fintech companies implement compliance frameworks as a checklist rather than a governance system. Effective compliance requires executive leadership, organizational culture change, and integration with business processes, not just technical controls.
Implementing security controls without aligning with business processes and customer requirements leads to friction, workarounds, and compliance failures. Security must integrate seamlessly with financial operations and product development.
Fintech companies often focus on internal controls while overlooking third-party vendors, payment processors, cloud service providers, and software supply chain risks. These represent significant risk vectors that must be assessed and managed.
Many fintech organizations prepare evidence only during audit periods, leading to gaps, inconsistencies, and compliance failures. Continuous evidence maintenance and monitoring are essential for effective compliance in financial services.
Many fintech companies fail to properly implement PCI DSS requirements, including network segmentation, encryption, access controls, and monitoring. Payment card security requires comprehensive controls, not just basic compliance.
Fintech organizations often have incident response plans that are not tested, not integrated with operations, or fail to address customer notification, regulatory reporting, and business continuity requirements effectively.
Glocert supports fintech organizations through independent certification, assurance, and audit services aligned to international standards and financial sector regulations.
Our fintech compliance services include ISO 27001 certification for information security governance, SOC 2 audits for service organization controls, PCI DSS compliance for payment card security, ISO 27701 certification for privacy management, ISO 22301 certification for business continuity, RBI IS compliance for India financial sector, and penetration testing to identify and remediate security vulnerabilities.
We understand the unique challenges of fintech organizations including regulatory complexity, financial data sensitivity, payment card security, rapid innovation, third-party vendor risk, and operational resilience. Our auditors bring deep fintech industry expertise and work with you to build compliance programs that integrate with product development, protect financial data, and meet regulatory requirements across multiple jurisdictions.
Are you ready to enhance security and achieve compliance excellence? Glocert International is ready to assist with ISO certifications, security assessments, and compliance solutions tailored to your fintech organization.