What happens to the file if you leave
Before an agency uploads its first client file, someone always asks the same question. Usually the principal, usually near the end of the conversation, usually phrased casually: so what happens to all this if we stop using it?
Fair question. The answer should be boring, and it is.
Your records are yours to take
Every finding, document, risk and audit entry for a deal exports as a portable file you can read without us. No support ticket, no fee, no waiting period, no retention-team phone call designed to change your mind.
If you stop using Trace, off-boarding includes a complete handover of your organisation's records. That's written into the terms rather than left to goodwill, which matters, because goodwill is exactly the thing that evaporates at the point you're leaving.
Leaving should never mean losing. If it does, the software was holding your records hostage and calling it a feature.
The one exception, said upfront
There's a limit on deletion and you should know about it before you start rather than discover it later. Records collected to meet AML/CTF customer due diligence obligations have to be retained for around seven years. Where that applies, the retention requirement overrides a deletion request, for you and for us.
We'll tell you which records are affected, and they're included in any handover if you leave. This is a legal obligation on reporting entities rather than a Trace policy, and it's worth confirming how it applies to your business with your own adviser.
Three things we don't do
- We don't train on your data. Your deal history, your file notes, the judgement your firm has built over years, none of it trains a model. What your agency knows stays your advantage, not something a competitor benefits from because you both use the same tool.
- We don't sell or share it. No data brokers, no advertising networks, no anonymised market-insights product built on your clients' transactions. Subprocessors are limited to what's needed to run the service and we'll name them on request.
- We don't send an AI's opinion to your client. Nothing reaches a client until you've reviewed and approved it. The traffic light, the risk rating and the client summary are always set by a person.
The full detail, in plain English, is on the security page.
We're building this with a small first group of buyer's agents. If your principal has questions this post doesn't answer, ask them directly.
Apply for a founding partner spot