How Financial Industry Regulations Affect Marketing: Insights From 7 Experts
Key Takeaways
- Financial regulations shape marketing messaging, approvals, and data handling daily.
- GDPR and cookie consent by geography require regular check-ins with legal teams.
- Automated workflows and page versioning speed approvals and keep an audit trail.
- A DXP with reusable, single-source content keeps financial messaging consistent.
- Treating regulations as customer protection turns compliance into brand trust.
Financial regulations affect marketing in four ways: what you can say, who must approve it, how you handle customer data, and how accessible your content is.
So, welcome to the world of financial services marketing, where navigating regulations isn’t just about following rules. It’s an art. Financial services marketers work under some of the strictest regulations of any industry, and those rules keep changing as new requirements for data protection, digital operations, and online content take effect. Staying compliant while still running creative, high-performing campaigns can feel like walking a tightrope.
It doesn’t have to. We gathered insights from experts at digital agencies that specialize in financial services marketing. They share how they handle compliance in practice, from bringing marketing, legal, and compliance teams together early to choosing technology with security built in from the start. You’ll see how leading agencies turn regulatory requirements into chances for creativity, smoother customer journeys, and stronger customer trust.
We posed the following query to our expert panel: How do regulations within the financial industry impact marketing departments? Additionally, what steps should marketers take to ensure compliance?
Addressing data security in finance:
"One of the key issues agencies in the financial sector are now facing is data protection and providing new levels of this to clients. Discussions as to whether one is a processor or controller, whether one holds data on the website or it goes straight through to a client's CRM, and whether any form of financial transactions are processed. All provide agencies with headaches and a good deal of cost. Brand Potential has invested heavily in ISO and Cyber Security certifications that take a huge amount of time and effort, at a cost that is very rarely recoverable. Marketers and indeed procurement should be aware of these costs and SLAs that they are insisting agencies work to when they are putting RFPs together. If they drive too much margin out of the industry, then the issue of staying compliant will only become bigger as people look to cut costs and ignore requirements. And that way trouble lies!"
Julian raises a point that rarely comes up in procurement meetings: security certifications take time and money to earn. If an RFP squeezes agency margins too hard, those protections are often the first thing to fall through the cracks. Ask agencies how they handle your customers’ data before you compare prices.
On marketing compliance for finance:
"Marketers need to regularly meet with their legal and compliance teams to ensure that every piece they are putting out is compliant with GDPR compliance and other regulations. This goes beyond standard disclaimers but includes things like cookie consent (by geography), and even new rules. Marketers need to work closely with everyone to ensure information is transparent and adheres to all regulations in place."
A quick legal check at the end of a project usually isn’t enough. Cookie consent rules alone can differ from one country to the next, so a standing monthly meeting with compliance will save you from last-minute rewrites.
Using a well-structured content model for better marketing:
"Like many highly regulated industries, financial services marketing websites often require maximum attention to detail. Precise language, pixel-perfect design adherence, and unyielding accessibility standards are common requirements that keep marketers out of the driver's seat within financial organizations. The power of a good DXP implementation stems from reusable content that references a single source of truth to ensure consistency. A well-structured content model coupled with high-quality frontend code takes the stress out of maintaining compliance, allowing marketers to focus on new campaigns and connecting with their customers."
Think about how many pages mention a single interest rate. If that rate is stored in one content item, you update it once and every page stays correct. That’s one less thing for compliance to flag, and one less late-night fix for the web team.
Maintaining approvals and marketing agility:
"For clients in the UK, the financial services regulators impose a number of rules onto business which affect the messaging and agility of marketing departments. Marketers need to not only be aware of the content of their communications but also the number of stakeholders within the business who need to be engaged to approve content. At Brand Potential, we ensure that marketers understand their business and who is on the approval group and then utilize features such as Advanced Workflows dedicated to categories of content and triggered emails to facilitate the approval of communications. This not only saves time to increase agility but also reduces the need to remember which team needs to approve each type of content. Page versioning within the system preserves changes for any questions by compliance teams and regulators which can be extremely helpful as well, so marketers do not need to track changes in external systems."
Most approval bottlenecks happen because nobody is sure who needs to sign off. Once that’s built into the workflow, content moves to the right people automatically. And when a regulator asks what a page said six months ago, version history gives you the answer in minutes.
Automation that's compliant:
"Automating compliance workflows is crucial for marketing departments in the financial sector. Complex financial regulations impact requires strict adherence, and advanced technology can significantly improve efficiency, accuracy, and reliability in maintaining compliance. Automated workflows simplify the review and approval of marketing materials. This guarantees that each piece of content, such as advertisements, social media posts, or customer emails, is evaluated against regulatory standards before publication."
Automation doesn’t replace your compliance team. It makes sure every ad, post and email reaches them before it goes live, so nothing gets published on a Friday afternoon without review.
Embracing regulations in marketing:
"Think about how to embrace these regulations into your journey rather than trying to work around them. Regulations generally exist for the purpose of protecting customers, and that's where the goal of a marketer aligns with the regulation. Translating a must-have into an improvement for your visitors' experience and positive brand emotion is a smart thing to do."
Roel’s advice is easy to agree with, but it's a task that can take time. Start small: rewrite a confusing disclosure in plain language, or make your consent banner easier to understand. Customers notice these details, even if they never say so. And more often than not, these details are required by regulations.
Seeing compliance as an opportunity for marketing:
"While the general perception is that regulation prohibits things, it can actually be seen as an opportunity. The EU is promoting interoperability and open data formats which can provide more data for personalized marketing in the financial sector. Now, for the focus on privacy and personal data: this is largely covered by the GDPR compliance, and every marketing manager in the financial industry has already dealt with it. However, we can expect sensitivity to these issues to continue to increase and marketing teams should ensure that they are not only compliant, but that they are building a culture where this type of information is handled with particular care."
Open banking is a good example of what Adam means. With customer consent, it can give marketers better data to personalize offers. Teams that already treat data carefully will find it much easier to take advantage of that.
Regulations marketers in finance need to know
The experts all agree that regulations keep changing, and new ones arrive every year. The table below lists some of the most important rules introduced since 2020 that affect how financial institutions market online, from privacy and advertising to crypto and open banking. It doesn’t cover everything, so treat it as a starting point and check with your compliance team for the rules that apply to your markets.
| Regulation | Region | Year established | Why marketers should know it | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) | U.S. (California) | 2020 | Customers can opt out of having their data shared for cross-context behavioral ads, which affects retargeting and audience building. | California Privacy Protection Agency |
| Digital Services Act (DSA) | EU | 2022 | Online platforms can't target ads using sensitive data or profiling of minors, and ads must be clearly labeled. This shapes paid social for banks. | European Commission |
| Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) | EU | 2022 | Financial firms must manage risk from ICT vendors, so new martech and AI tools face stricter vendor reviews before launch. | EUR-Lex (official text) |
| UK Consumer Duty | UK | 2022 | Financial communications must be clear and help customers understand products, so jargon and hidden conditions in campaigns are a risk. | Financial Conduct Authority |
| FDIC Official Digital Sign Rule | U.S. | 2023 | Banks must show an FDIC digital sign on their websites and apps. A 2026 final rule set April 1, 2027 as the compliance date for its amendments. | FDIC |
| Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) | EU | 2023 | Crypto and stablecoin marketing must be clearly identifiable as marketing and be fair, clear and not misleading. | ESMA |
| GENIUS Act | U.S. | 2025 | Bans misleading stablecoin claims about government backing, federal insurance or legal tender status, and limits use of transaction data for targeted ads. | Congress.gov |
| PSD3 and Payment Services Regulation (PSR) | EU | 2026 | These will replace PSD2 and update open banking, fraud and transparency rules, including limits on advertising financial services through large online platforms. | European Parliament |
How to master compliance in financial services marketing
And there you have it, an overview of the challenging realm of compliance in financial marketing, which is constantly changing as new regulations emerge. These insights from industry trailblazers demonstrate that with the right mix of technology, collaboration, and innovation, navigating the compliance landscape can be less of a tightrope walk and more of a strategic dance.
Of course, every dance is easier with the right partner. With a platform like Xperience by Kentico, keeping pace with ever-changing financial regulations becomes second nature. Security is built into its foundation: it’s ISO 27001 certified, SOC 2 Type II audited, DORA-aligned, and ready for the Digital Services Act. With these guardrails in place, your team can manage customer data and run campaigns with confidence instead of stress.
Ready to watch your marketing strategies and customer trust thrive within the bounds of regulations? Download our free, 10 step guide on building trust in finance and get actionable advice for improving trust.
Frequently Asked Questions
Look for a marketing platform with recognized security certifications and compliance built into its core. Certifications such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II show that a vendor’s security practices have been independently assessed. Alignment with financial and digital regulations, such as DORA and the Digital Services Act, is also worth checking. The right platform should make protecting customer data and running campaigns feel straightforward, not stressful.