Problem statement

Intrum UK Ltd, a leading UK financial services provider, acquired Capquest Debt Recovery Ltd. While both entities demonstrated good levels of data protection compliance individually, integrating their data practices during the business integration presented a new set of challenges. Streamlining data flows, merging customer bases, and ensuring consistent data protection policies across the combined organisation became a priority.

Solution

Intrum UK Ltd partnered with Parker Neal to assist Intrum in translating the regulatory, legal and business requirements with regards to data protection, and to design an operational control framework, which as an output drives stronger data protection compliance with the UK Data Protection Act 2018 (“DPA”) and UK General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). The engagement approach consisted of the following two stages:

• Stage 1 – Assessment: we conducted a series of workshops with key stakeholders within the business. Documentation supplied was reviewed to ensure current controls could be validated and maturity assessed. In some circumstances we performed process walk throughs to confirm how controls were operating in practice.

• Stage 2 – Reporting: we provided a report documenting the business, legal and regulatory requirements translated into tangible actions, which once implemented delivered data protection enhancements that are aligned to industry good practice standards. The report was informed by key stakeholders from Intrum and highlighted current maturity baselined against minimum and future target states.

Moving Forward

Equipped with the findings from the gap assessment, Parker Neal collaborated with Intrum UK Ltd to develop a data protection compliance roadmap for the combined business.

By conducting a data protection gap assessment, Intrum UK Ltd gained a deep understanding of the acquired firm's data landscape and potential compliance risks. This enabled them to establish a clear path towards integrating data practices while remaining GDPR compliant.

Key takeaways

• Business mergers and acquisitions necessitate a data protection gap assessment to identify potential compliance gaps in acquired entities.

• Understanding an acquired firm's data practices allows for a more secure and compliant data integration process.

• Partnering with Parker Neal ensures a smooth transition and minimizes data protection risks during mergers and acquisitions.