Certification for financial services
Financial services and fintech operate in one of the most heavily scrutinised environments there is, and certification is central to how trust is established with partners, regulators and enterprise customers. For a fintech trying to win a banking partner or land an enterprise client, the security questionnaire is often the gate — and recognised certifications are the fastest way through it. For established institutions, independent assurance over security and payments controls is simply part of operating responsibly.
Which standards are relevant
Organisations handling payment card data need to demonstrate PCI DSS compliance — frequently a contractual requirement from acquiring banks and payment partners. SOC 2 provides the attestation that North American counterparties ask for when assessing a service provider, and ISO 27001 gives an internationally recognised information security management certificate that buyers across the UK, EU and Middle East expect. Because these frameworks share a great deal of underlying control, a coordinated programme avoids duplicated effort.
What makes a financial services audit different
Audits here are demanding on access control, monitoring, change management and the segregation of sensitive environments — particularly anything that touches cardholder data or money movement. Auditors expect to see strong governance, evidence that controls operate continuously rather than at a point in time, and careful management of the third parties woven through modern financial platforms. Scoping is critical: well-segmented environments reduce both risk and the cost of assessment.
How ABS helps
We prepare financial services and fintech organisations for these assessments: scoping the cardholder-data and service environments, gap assessments against PCI DSS, SOC 2 and ISO 27001, one set of controls and evidence that serves all three, and support through the PCI DSS assessment, the licensed CPA firm’s SOC 2 examination and the certification body’s ISO 27001 audit.
Common questions
Which certifications does a fintech actually need?
It depends on what you do and who you sell to. Card-handling businesses need PCI DSS; companies selling into US enterprises are usually asked for SOC 2; ISO 27001 is the broadly recognised baseline for international buyers. Many fintechs pursue a combination.
Can we reuse evidence across these frameworks?
Yes — significantly. ISO 27001, SOC 2 and PCI DSS overlap on access control, monitoring and policy, so a coordinated programme reuses a large share of the evidence rather than starting each from scratch.
Can the audits be done remotely?
Information security and SOC 2 assessments are routinely conducted remotely. PCI DSS may require on-site work depending on how you handle card data, which we confirm during scoping.
