The penalties for breaches of the new legislation can be substantial. Financial services firms that fall foul of the new rules can face fines of up to 2% of annual global revenue. Individual managers could also be held liable for breaches and face sanctions of as much as 1 million euros ($1 million).
So far, the rate of compliance among financial services firms with the new rules has been mixed, according to Harvey Jang, chief privacy officer and deputy general counsel at IT giant Cisco.
"I think we've seen a mixed bag," Jang told CNBC in an interview. "Of course, the more mature-stage companies are further along looking at this for at least a year — if not longer."