• Specialist lender Arkle Finance provides practical support to small asset finance broking businesses having to prepare for complex new European data protection regulations
• Developed specifically for the leasing market to overcome information overload
• Toolkit offers step-by-step guidance that helps brokers to get compliant quickly and affordably

The specialist lender Arkle Finance has offered a helping hand to its brokers having to deal with the biggest overhaul of data protection law for two decades.

The European Commission’s General Data Protection Regulation, which comes into force in the UK on 25th May, makes sweeping changes to the existing rules laid down by the Data Protection Act of 1998.

As well as giving individuals more say over what companies can record on their systems, GDPR helps individuals to get data about them updated or deleted. The rules cover people working in companies as well as individual consumers.

As the implementation deadline approaches, many brokers are suffering from information overload as many guides to GDPR raise more questions than they answer. In response, Arkle Finance has teamed up with Asset Finance Policy (AFP), an industry regulatory specialist, to offer its brokers a practical solution – AFP’s GDPR toolkit.

The AFP toolkit offers a clear and concise checklist, helping brokers to complete the key steps needed for GDPR without having to study the fine details of the regulation. It includes model documents that brokers can adapt and use such as consent request, privacy notice and data rights forms.

The author of the toolkit is Julian Rose, who has worked with dozens of asset finance brokers since starting AFP in 2014 after six years as Head of Asset Finance at the Finance and Leasing Association.

Daniel Bailey, managing director of Arkle Finance, commented:

“Complying with the new rules is of critical importance for everyone in both the broker and lender communities – but the good news is that the changes required are unlikely to be substantial for most brokers. GDPR shouldn’t become an obstacle to a broker’s normal business.

“There’s no shortage of information about GDPR out there, but there’s nothing as practical and specific to asset finance brokers as this toolkit. It should be particularly useful for small firms without in-house compliance experts or external advisers.

“Trust and mutual support are a key part of Arkle’s relationship with brokers and their clients, and we hope our toolkit will give them some vital assistance as they prepare for the arrival of GDPR.”