PostgreSQL Compliance for Fintech Startups: GDPR + DORA in One Stack

The Fintech Compliance Stack

As a fintech startup, you likely have 2-10 engineers and zero dedicated compliance staff. You need compliance that works with your engineering workflow, not against it.

Day 1: Baseline (15 minutes)

-- Install
\i pgcomply.sql

-- Auto-detect PII, classify tables, set up auditing
SELECT pgcomply.quick_setup();

-- See where you stand
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.health_check();

Week 1: GDPR Essentials

-- Register any PII that quick_setup missed
SELECT pgcomply.register_pii('payments', 'iban', 'financial', 'user_id');

-- Set up consent tracking
SELECT pgcomply.define_purpose('payment_processing', 'Process payments', 'contract');
SELECT pgcomply.define_purpose('marketing', 'Email marketing', 'consent');

-- Retention policies
SELECT pgcomply.retain('sessions', 'created_at', '30 days');
SELECT pgcomply.retain('temp_tokens', 'created_at', '1 hour');

Week 2: DORA Essentials

-- DDL tracking is automatic after install
-- Verify it works:
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.ddl_history(since := NOW() - INTERVAL '7 days');

-- Set up scheduled monitoring
SELECT pgcomply.schedule_jobs(install := true);

-- Create your first access review
SELECT pgcomply.start_access_review('Initial-2026');

Ongoing: Weekly Check

-- One query to know your compliance status
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.health_check();
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.schema_drift();
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.checklist_progress('gdpr');
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.checklist_progress('dora');

Cost Comparison

| Approach | Annual Cost | FTE Required | Database Coverage | |----------|------------|-------------|-------------------| | Compliance consultant | 30-100k EUR | 0.2 FTE | Low (advisory) | | Enterprise platform (Vanta) | 20-50k EUR | 0.1 FTE | Surface only | | pgcomply Pro | 588 EUR | 0 FTE | Deep (in-database) | | pgcomply Community | Free | 0 FTE | Deep (in-database) |

BaFin Readiness Checklist

If you're a German fintech, BaFin (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht) oversees your compliance. Here's what they care about at the database level:

-- 1. Data inventory: What PII do you hold?
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.classification_map();

-- 2. Access control: Who can reach sensitive data?
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.access_map();

-- 3. Change management: What changed in the last 90 days?
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.ddl_history(since := NOW() - INTERVAL '90 days');

-- 4. Incident history: Any breaches?
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.breach_status();

-- 5. Operational resilience: Current health
SELECT * FROM pgcomply.health_check();

These five queries produce the evidence BaFin expects during an examination.

DORA Incident Response for Fintechs

As a financial entity, DORA incident reporting timelines are strict:

-- Incident occurs: document immediately
SELECT pgcomply.report_breach(
  'Unauthorized API access detected',
  'Monitoring alert: 50 failed login attempts from unusual IP range targeting admin API endpoint.',
  'major',
  cause := 'Credential stuffing attack against admin endpoint',
  affected_services := ARRAY['admin-api'],
  subjects_count := 0  -- No data accessed
);

-- Output: NOTICE: Breach BR-2026-0001 logged. DPA notification deadline: 2026-02-25 14:30:00

For major incidents: initial report to BaFin within 4 hours. pgcomply tracks the deadline automatically.

Payment Data Special Requirements

PCI DSS applies alongside GDPR/DORA for payment processors:

-- Register payment-specific PII
SELECT pgcomply.register_pii('payments', 'card_last_four', 'financial', 'user_id');
SELECT pgcomply.register_pii('payments', 'iban', 'financial', 'user_id');

-- Mask payment data aggressively
SELECT pgcomply.mask('payments', 'iban', 'partial', ARRAY['postgres', 'finance_lead']);
SELECT pgcomply.mask('payments', 'card_last_four', 'partial', ARRAY['postgres']);

-- Short retention for transaction logs
SELECT pgcomply.retain('payment_logs', 'created_at', '90 days');

-- Long retention for financial records (German HGB: 10 years)
SELECT pgcomply.retain('invoices', 'created_at', '3650 days');

Compliance Cost Reality Check

For a 5-person fintech engineering team:

| Item | DIY Cost | With pgcomply | |------|----------|---------------| | GDPR deletion capability | 2-3 weeks engineering | 1 hour setup | | Audit trail | 1-2 weeks engineering | Included | | DORA health checks | 1 week + ongoing maintenance | schedule_jobs() | | SOC 2 evidence collection | 1 week per audit cycle | compliance_report() | | Compliance consultant review | 5-15k EUR per review | Evidence is self-documenting | | Total first year | 80-120k EUR (time + consulting) | 588 EUR (Pro annual) |

The math is clear: building compliance tooling in-house is an order of magnitude more expensive than using pgcomply, and the result is less reliable.

Summary

Fintech startups need compliance that fits engineering workflows and budgets. pgcomply covers both GDPR and DORA from within PostgreSQL — install in minutes, automate the routine checks, and focus your limited team time on building product.