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Compliance

What consent do I need to capture for financial advice leads under GDPR?

Last reviewed 22 April 2026 · Reviewed by Jake McQuillan

Quick answer

What consent do I need to capture for financial advice leads under GDPR?

You need specific, granular, freely-given consent for: (1) being contacted by phone/SMS, (2) email marketing, (3) processing sensitive data (health, financial). Store consent timestamp, IP, user-agent and exact text shown. Unlimited retention requires separate basis.

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Required consents

  1. Marketing calls/SMS: explicit, separate checkbox. Check TPS/CTPS.
  2. Marketing email: explicit, separate checkbox (soft opt-in narrow in regulated advice).
  3. Data processing: lawful basis (contract, legitimate interest, consent).
  4. Special category data (health for protection, ethnicity): explicit consent.

What to store

  • Consent text shown (verbatim).
  • Timestamp (ISO-8601).
  • IP address.
  • User-agent.
  • Landing-page URL.
  • Version of terms/privacy policy.

Retention

  • Prospect (no client relationship): 12 to 24 months typical.
  • Client: for life of relationship + 6 to 7 years after (FCA retention rules).
  • Declined-advice: 6 years.

Watch out

  • Pre-ticked consent boxes are not valid.
  • Bundled consent is not valid.
  • Use of third-party lead lists is almost always non-compliant.
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JM
Reviewed by
Jake McQuillan
Founder at Platinum Prospects
Last reviewed 22 April 2026

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