How Secure Printing Protects Financial Institutions

Most financial institutions focus heavily on network firewalls, encrypted databases, and secure mobile applications. That’s a good thing! But one giant data protection problem is often hiding in plain sight — right there in the printer tray. 

Every day, your employees print account statements, loan documents, regulatory reports, and other confidential materials. Without proper print security measures, these documents could easily end up in the wrong hands. In this blog, I’ll discuss why print security is non-negotiable in 2025, and also how it can help pay for itself for banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions. 

What Makes Secure Print Solutions Essential for Financial Services

Let’s talk numbers! Here are just a few stats: 

• Only 16% of IT decision-makers are confident in their print infrastructure’s security
• 61% of organizations experienced data losses due to unsecure printing practices in 2023 alone
• 65% of printed documents get tossed the same day they’re printed
• 30% of documents are never picked up from the printer at all

Wait — half of those stats are about waste. How is that related to print security? Well, print security technology is one of those few sophisticated cybersecurity solutions that actually helps pay for itself. 

How Secure Print Solutions Protect Data and Save Money

A secure printing solution with mobile authentication turns your printers into smart gatekeepers. 

Instead of documents sitting vulnerable in output trays, employees must verify their identity — whether through a badge tap, mobile app, or biometric scan — before their documents print. Every interaction gets automatically logged in a central system, so you'll always know who printed what, when, and where. This gives financial institutions the visibility they need to spot unusual printing patterns and stop unauthorized document access before it happens. 

Secure printing platforms can also create detailed audit trails, tracking who printed what, when, and from which device. This level of visibility is crucial for financial institutions that need to demonstrate compliance with regulations like GDPR, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and other data protection requirements.

And then there’s the cost-savings piece of the equation. Remember that statistic I threw out earlier about how 30% of documents are never picked up from the print tray? That’s a lot of wasted paper, ink, and toner. As it turns out, by requiring an employee to authenticate themselves at the printer before it will release a job, two things happen. It makes it almost impossible for an employee to forget they printed something. And it also makes your staff reconsider hitting that print button in the first place. After all, when you actually have to get up from your desk and walk to a printer, you’re less likely to print a document unless you really need to. 

Key Features To Prioritize in Your Secure Print Implementation

Secure printing solutions aren’t all the same! When evaluating secure printing solutions for your financial institution, I’d recommend focusing on these capabilities:

Authentication Integration

Additional security doesn’t need to come at the expense of productivity. Look for solutions that can leverage the same security credentials your employees already use for network access, creating a unified security experience without additional complexity.

Comprehensive Audit Trails

Make sure your solution provides granular logging that captures user identity, document details, print timestamps, and device locations. Your system should generate tamper-evident logs that can withstand regulatory scrutiny and support compliance reporting for standards like SOX, PCI DSS, and GLBA.

Document Encryption and Data Protection

Print jobs containing sensitive financial data should remain encrypted throughout the entire print process, from submission to final output. Additionally, your secure print solution should support end-to-end encryption and automatically purge print jobs from the server’s memory after release, so no residual data remains accessible.

Flexible Release Methods

Different departments may require different authentication approaches. If possible, look for solutions that support multiple release methods while maintaining consistent security standards.

Advanced Policy Controls

Your loan officers shouldn't be able to print customer account statements, and those sensitive compliance reports probably shouldn't be printable at the front desk printer where customers might see them. Your secure print solution should let you get specific about who can print what, when, and where. The right system will let you set up rules based on job roles, document sensitivity, business hours, and even which specific printers can handle certain types of documents. 

Additional Tips on Choosing the Right Software

When it comes to choosing a secure print platform that meets the demanding requirements of financial services, I typically recommend PaperCut, PrinterLogic, or SafeQ. 

But here's the thing — the "best" solution for your bank or credit union will depend on your specific situation. Here are just a few of the questions I ask a financial institution before I make a recommendation: 

• How large is your organization, and how many locations do you manage?
• How many employees need secure printing capabilities?
• What are your overall printing volumes and document types?
• Do you prefer cloud-based management or on-premises control?

How Secure Printing Services Can Make Your Life Easier 

At Marco, print security solutions — including secure print release — are included as part of our managed print services offering. We decided years ago that we wouldn’t make our clients pay extra for a service that we considered fundamental to their data security. And having a dedicated print security team makes it possible for us to stay on top of evolving threats. 

If you’re curious about what we’d recommend, you’re welcome to reach out to a print expert. We also offer complimentary print technology assessments that dig deeper into how you can strengthen security while cutting costs — something every CFO loves to hear. Use this link to request one. You can also browse our print management software solutions by clicking the link below.