Trade blotter redaction is the removal of personal identifiers from a dealing log. UK MiFIR Art. 25 requires order and transaction records to be kept for five years, and Art. 26 requires transaction reports to reach the FCA by the close of the following working day, carrying national client identifiers under RTS 22. For a UK national that identifier is the National Insurance number — a real PII field sitting inside an ordinary trading record. anonym.plus marks each such field on your machine.
When this applies
The log ties every fill to a trader name and a client identifier, sometimes a National Insurance number. You strip those fields before an extract reaches an outside reviewer or a vendor.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the log in anonym.plus on your device.
- Local OCR reads a printed or scanned extract.
- The tool flags trader names and client refs.
- Keep the timestamps, sizes, and prices intact.
- Mask or swap each confirmed field.
- Save the clean extract locally.
What you need to provide
- The log (CSV export, PDF, DOCX, or scan).
- An operator (Mask suits structured fields).
- Optional batch for many trading days.
PII & financial identifiers detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Names | PERSON | trader K. Halloran → [TRADER] |
| Identifiers | NATIONAL_ID | client LEI/ref → [CLIENT] |
| Contact | EMAIL_ADDRESS | desk@example.co.uk → [EMAIL] |
| Money | MONEY | fill 12,000 shares → [SIZE] |
| Dates | DATE_TIME | 14:32:07 03/2025 → [TIME] |
| Organization | ORGANIZATION | counterparty → [FIRM] |
Compliance achieved
- Order and transaction records must be kept for five years under UK MiFIR Art. 25, so redact an extract and never the master.
- UK MiFIR Art. 26 reports reach the FCA by the close of the following working day and carry national client identifiers under RTS 22.
- For a UK national that identifier is the National Insurance number — exactly the field to mask in any shared blotter.
- General record-keeping under FCA SYSC 9.1 is unaffected: timestamps, size and price stay untouched.
- Recorded calls and messages kept under FCA COBS 11.8 are a separate record — clean their transcripts too.
Anonymise trade blotters offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
The five-year record under UK MiFIR Art. 25 must remain complete, so redact only a shared extract. A unique fill size at a precise millisecond can still identify a desk or a client. Review small, distinctive rows before sharing.
Frequently asked questions
Should I redact the master blotter?
No. UK MiFIR Art. 25 requires the complete record for five years. Redact only an extract you share, and protect the master log.
Why does a blotter contain a National Insurance number?
Transaction reporting under UK MiFIR Art. 26 uses national client identifiers defined by RTS 22, and for a UK national that is the National Insurance number. It is personal data sitting inside a trading record.
Does the log leave my machine?
No. Work runs offline, so trader and client data stays on your device.