Portfolio statement redaction is the removal of personal data from a holdings summary. The statement itself is a regulatory artefact: FCA COBS 16A requires a firm to report to its clients, and a portfolio manager must send a periodic statement at least quarterly. Where the firm also holds the assets, CASS 9 governs the information given to clients about their custody assets, and SYSC 9.1.1R requires orderly records of the business. UK GDPR Art. 5(1)(c) limits what you may pass on. anonym.plus marks each name, number and address on your own device, so the valuations survive while the identifiers go.
When this applies
A quarterly valuation names the holder, the accounts and every line of stock on one page. An outside reviewer, a performance auditor or a systems vendor needs the positions, not the person. You clear the identifiers before the pack leaves the desk. The statement you actually sent the client stays whole in your own file as the COBS 16A record.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the valuation in anonym.plus on your workstation.
- Local OCR reads any scanned custodian page attached to it.
- The tool flags names, account numbers, NI numbers and contacts.
- Confirm each flag and allow-list the ticker and fund names.
- Replace each identifier with a label, or black it out.
- Save the clean copy locally. No network call is made.
What you need to provide
- The valuation (PDF, DOCX, or scan).
- An operator: Replace (swap), Redact (black out), or Mask (partial).
- Optional allow-list for ticker symbols, ISINs and fund names.
PII & financial identifiers detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Names | PERSON | Helen R. Voss → [HOLDER] |
| Financial | UK_BANK_NUMBER | acct 4412 9087 → [ACCOUNT] |
| Identifiers | UK_NINO | QQ 12 34 56 C → [NINO] |
| Money | MONEY | £1,240,500 → [VALUE] |
| Location | LOCATION | 44 Elm Lane, York → [ADDRESS] |
| Contact | EMAIL_ADDRESS | voss@example.co.uk → [EMAIL] |
Compliance achieved
- FCA COBS 16A makes the statement a client report in its own right, and a portfolio manager must send one at least quarterly; redacting a working copy leaves the report you actually issued untouched.
- Where the firm holds the assets, CASS 9 governs the custody-asset information given to clients, and SYSC 9.1.1R requires records orderly enough for the FCA to monitor the business.
- Supports data minimisation under UK GDPR Art. 5(1)(c) — an analyst reviewing asset allocation does not need the holder's National Insurance number.
- Runs offline across 340+ PII types with AES-256-GCM at rest, so a valuation never reaches a third-party server by accident.
Anonymise portfolio statements offline — see plans & start free →
Limitations & cautions
A holdings mix can be unusual enough to point to one client on its own — a single unquoted holding or a concentrated line does that without any name. The tool flags named items; it cannot judge when a rare position re-identifies someone. Review the line items yourself before you share.
Frequently asked questions
Does redacting a statement affect the COBS 16A reporting duty?
No. COBS 16A requires the firm to report to the client, and a portfolio manager reports at least quarterly. The statement you issued is the record of that. A redacted copy is a separate working document for review or analysis and sits alongside it.
Will the holdings figures survive the pass?
Yes. Allow-list ticker symbols, ISINs and fund names before you run it. Only personal identifiers are marked, so allocation, valuation and performance still read correctly.
Does anything go to the cloud?
No. anonym.plus is a desktop application with no upload step, so custody and valuation data stays on your machine.