Retaining and Archiving Records

Why do you need to know?

You are required to keep records in accordance with the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA) Regulations, Data Protection Regulations and Anti Money Laundering Regulations as well as HMRC requirements.

Key Points

• There are varying requirements for keeping records
• Records can be in hard copy or electronic format
• You should have a retention policy in place that outlines the requirements and how you would store or destroy records
• The credit union must comply to the 8 principles of data protection

Putting it into Practice

Credit unions require a structured system of record retention in order to maintain their records from creation to final preservation or destruction.

There are several important reasons for retaining records, including facilitating credit union operations and satisfying legal requirements. The legal requirements for maintaining records are generally found in statutes and regulations, but these requirements do not cover all records created by credit unions.

In addition, the legal requirements merely provide the minimum period of time that records must be retained by the credit union. Credit unions must exercise good business judgment when making retention decisions.

N.B. This should always comply with the Data Protection Act which requires that personal data processed for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

Some records may be considered as historical record. Provided that the retention of those complies with legislation it is recommended that the credit union seek to store such records with a historical archive or record office.

To maintain an effective record retention strategy the credit union should be:

• setting policies and standards;
• assigning responsibilities and authorities;
• establishing and disseminate procedures and guidelines;
• integrating records management into business systems and processes.

Reproduction of Records

Many credit union records can be preserved on scans, machine copies, microfilm, microfiche, magnetic tape, or any electronic format that accurately reflects the information on the record. As long as a credit union follows vital records precautions and can easily access stored information and produce paper copies, all of the documents in this guide can be retained electronically unless marked “ORIGINAL FORMAT.”

Main retention criteria