What We Do
Our financial services consultants understand your pressures. We know our KYC from the Basel framework, model governance from operational resilience, and regulatory expectations from commercial reality.
Drawing on our heritage in large-scale change and knowledge management, we guide FS organisations through complex transformations – particularly where legacy systems and processes are involved. By working with our data and AI specialists, you’ll realise that data strategies can add tangible value, not just audit-ready documentation.
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Regulatory Compliance Confidence
EU AI Act
The impending EU AI Act is set to be one of the most significant regulatory changes for data in financial services in years. The stakes are high: Non-compliance could trigger fines of up to 7% of global revenue. Compliance isn’t optional, but imperative. It requires robust processes, clear role definitions, thorough documentation for every AI decision, along with mandated testing every six months.
It’s a lot, but with our help, you can prepare early and with confidence. We’ll show you how to embed transparency, accountability, and trust into your AI systems to turn regulatory readiness into a competitive advantage.
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“AI needs competition, but AI also needs collaboration, and AI needs the confidence of the people, and has to be safe.”
Freeing Trapped Data from Legacy Systems
If you feel held back by core systems from the 1960s and 70s, you’re not alone. FS is mired by bespoke legacy platforms that trap critical data, create integration headaches, and carry high security and operational risks. We’ll help you extract this trapped data safely so you can advance data analytics and AI responsibly.
Through regulatory-aligned governance and risk frameworks, we ensure your AI uses are transparent, explainable, and compliant. Spoiler alert: We’re not fans of using AI for AI’s sake. We’re fans of using it to drive smarter decisions, reduce risk, and add real business value, all within the controlled, well-regulated framework that financial services demand.
Our Data & AI Services for FS
Understand your data and realise its potential to improve services for your customers, regulators, and markets.
Data Strategies for Regulatory Compliance
We build data roadmaps and sensible frameworks that are aligned with regulatory principles in financial services, from integrity and transparency to fairness and accountability, and contestability.
Our Data Strategy Services
Value Focused Data Governance
Data governance in banking isn’t just to satisfy auditors. It ensures your data is trustworthy, high-quality, and usable for strategic decision-making. We implement robust governance frameworks, policies, and processes, with a focus on data accountability.
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AI Compliance
Your use of advanced technologies and artificial intelligence needs to be responsible, transparent, and compliant. With our AI governance and risk modelling expertise, feel confident that your AI strategies have undergone the necessary risk modelling and testing to ensure compliance with regulations, like the EU AI Act.
Our AI services
Data Engineering for Operational Resilience
By migrating data from legacy systems to modern data stacks, we’ll help you to:
- Access value that’s long been locked away
- Improve critical operations
- Build and scale properly engineered data platforms
Our Work
Our People
Meet the data engineers, business analysts, and project managers who specialise in FS at Oakland Everything Data.
Get in touch
Data and AI consultancy starts with a conversation. Call our friendly team on +(44) 113 234 1944 or complete the form below and we’ll be in touch soon.
Financial Services FAQs
How does a data consultant help with KYC activities in FS?
Know Your Customer (KYC) is at the heart of financial services regulation. But many organisations struggle with the activity due to scattered records, legacy systems, and time-consuming processes.
As a data consultant, we turn KYC into a controlled, data-driven process for FS clients. Our analytics and AI specialists develop solutions that enhance risk detection and ongoing monitoring. As a result, high-risk customers and suspicious activity are flagged faster, and before they become a problem.
Activities we run to make KYC more data-driven include:
- Consolidating and cleaning customer data
- Integrating legacy and modern systems
- Automating key workflows
- Ensuring records are accurate and complete (and always audit-ready)
Please get in touch to find out more.
What AI regulations does FS need to navigate?
From fraud detection and credit scoring to risk modelling, AI is transforming financial services. But you know as well as we do that it comes with a stack of regulatory responsibility.
EU AI Act
The upcoming EU AI Act is the world’s first legally binding regulation for artificial intelligence. It came into effect in the EU in August 2024 to set safety, transparency, and ethical standards. It’s due to apply to providers and developers in the UK from August 2026. The Act categorises AI based on risk levels (unacceptable, high, limited, minimal), with many financial AI systems classed as ‘high’. As a result, these systems require documentation, risk assessments, and ongoing testing, with non-compliance vulnerable to fines of up to 7% of global revenue.
FCA AI Rules (UK)
The FCA published its AI Update in 2024 to outline how its existing rules apply to AI. At a top-level, the Authority expects AI to be used safely, transparently, and with accountability.
AML, KYC, and GDPR
All three of these rules (Anti-Money Laundering, Know Your Customer, and General Data Protection Regulation) still apply in the UK. If AI is handling such sensitive financial and personal data, then it must do so strongly – and with auditable decisions and strong controls.
At Oakland, we help financial institutions meet current and up-and-coming regulations by:
- Implementing governance frameworks and traceable processes
- Ensuring AI is safe, compliant, and value-generating
- Turning regulatory obligations into a foundation for smarter decision-making
Reach out to our experts to learn more.
What does FS need to do to make sure AI and ML meet the ICO’s privacy standards?
From the outset, financial services must embed the ICO’s (Information Commissioner’s Office) privacy standards into AI and machine learning (ML). To manage bias, errors, and misuse of data, organisations need:
- Strong governance
- Audit-ready documentation
- Ongoing monitoring to manage bias, errors, and misuse of data
With our expertise, your AI workflows can align with the ICO’s standards to protect individuals and reduce regulatory risk.
Please contact us to find out more.
What are the main risks of legacy systems in financial services?
Legacy systems were once the backbone of FS. But in today’s world, they create data silos, security vulnerabilities, and integration headaches. While these platforms hold vast amounts of data, much of it is locked away, leaving much of its value unrealised.
We know that migrating data from a legacy system to the cloud or a new data platform is a daunting prospect. It takes time, uses up resources, and requires financial investment. But legacy systems slow decision-making, complicate regulatory compliance, and increase operational costs. In a nutshell, they hold back financial services.
The outdated architecture also limits your access to valuable customer and transaction data, which hinders digital transformation and AI initiatives. What’s more, maintaining legacy platforms also carries a high risk of errors, outages, and cyber threats.