This joint initiative by the data protection authorities of France, Luxembourg, and the United Kingdom explores the interactions between personal data protection, data governance, and the valuation of data assets in the financial sector. In a context where data is a strategic asset essential for digital development and artificial intelligence, its governance, quality, and compliance are decisive challenges.
The report highlights that data protection, beyond mere regulatory compliance, enhances trust in data assets, supports their valuation, and contributes to economic value creation. GDPR compliance is presented as a strategic asset with multiple dimensions (image, cyber-resilience, data quality), while non-compliance poses reputational, financial, and operational risks.
The study emphasizes the economic benefits of data protection: a factor of trust for clients, partners, and investors; a competitive advantage through robust governance; a lever for improved risk management; and a driver of responsible innovation. It calls for data protection to be considered a key element of trust, organizational resilience, and value creation.
The report also analyzes how data governance and risk management can impact the economic value of data assets, and how these considerations are integrated into economic valuation, financial appraisal, and intangible asset accounting processes, particularly under IFRS standards.
Finally, the study underscores the growing importance of data protection in financial operations such as mergers & acquisitions and investments. It offers best practices for incorporating these issues into financial due diligence procedures and future revenue stream-based valuation methods (DCF method). Data protection is also presented as a prerequisite for the robust deployment of AI systems.
