Bank detail redaction is the removal of financial account data from a wage file, guided by UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Those rules require firms to minimise and safeguard personal data, a duty the ICO enforces. anonym.plus marks each sort code and account number on your device, so the record stays usable while the bank data is shielded.
When this applies
A direct-credit file lists each worker's sort code and account number. You strip those digits before the file reaches a supplier or auditor.
How anonym.plus handles it
- Open the file in anonym.plus on your device.
- Local OCR reads a scanned mandate if present.
- The tool flags sort codes, accounts, and IBANs.
- Confirm the flags and keep the bank name if cited.
- Apply Mask to keep only the last four digits.
- Save the clean file locally.
What you need to provide
- The file (CSV, XLSX, PDF, or scan).
- The Mask operator set to keep the last four digits.
- Optional batch for many credit records.
PII entity types detected
| Category | anonym.plus entity type | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Financial | UK_BANK_NUMBER | a/c 12345678 → ****5678 |
| Financial | UK_SORT_CODE | 12-34-56 → [SORT] |
| Financial | IBAN_CODE | GB29 NWBK ... → [IBAN] |
| Names | PERSON | holder Tann → [HOLDER] |
| Identifiers | UK_NINO | linked NI → [NINO] |
| Organization | ORGANIZATION | First Bank → [BANK] |
Compliance achieved
- Aligns with the safeguarding and minimisation duties under UK GDPR & DPA 2018, enforced by the ICO.
- Mask keeps only the last four digits of each account line.
- Offline work keeps the numbers off any server.
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Limitations & cautions
A spaced or hyphenated value on a faint scan can confuse OCR. Verify image flags so no full number remains. The tool masks what it detects; check the output.
Frequently asked questions
What do UK GDPR and the DPA 2018 require here?
They require firms to minimise and safeguard personal data, a duty the ICO enforces. anonym.plus masks the bank numbers in a wage file to support that duty.
How much may stay?
You choose. Mask is set to keep the last four digits, hiding the rest in one pass.
Is the file uploaded?
No. The app is offline, so the bank data stays on your device.