Box Inc. is moving another notch down its checklist for industry-specific functionality with the introduction of new capabilities aimed at addressing the strict data management requirements of financial institutions. The launch marks the latest milestone in a long-running push toward vertical integration.

The corporate file-sharing juggernaut’s journey to become more than just another horizontal storage player traces back nearly three years to the launch of its data integration service, which opened the way for partners to provide value-added functionality. The ecosystem reached 1,000 applications last March, when Box gave the first hints of its intentions to take the plan the next level.

Half a year later, the cloud giant debuted a structured effort to tackle industry-specific demands that took its strategy beyond partnerships with a build-in workflow management technology capable of automatically enforcing how information is accessed and shared. The new features unveiled this morning extend that functionality into the most compliance-conscious parts of the financial world.

The biggest addition is the ability to regulate how long records are kept around and where, a crucial requirement for heavily-regulated organizations such as banks that must meet rigid retention guidelines. Deleting a file prematurely can create critical accountability gaps that have the potential to severely backfire in the event of an audit, while holding onto data for too long often carries serious legal repercussions.

The new functionality leverages the workflow management feature that Box introduced in September to automatically label sensitives files with metadata tags describing the specific time constraints on each. Administrators can search documents based on those markers and modify them to change retention limits across a particular collection of documents with a single action instead of having to manually reconfigure each one.

The capability can also be applied to copies moved outside the original folder, which pose a major administrative challenge in enterprise environments where data is often shared among large groups often extending beyond the organization. Box intends to double down on that issue later in the quarter with the scheduled addition of a watermarking feature specifically designed to curtail leaks.

The function will provide the option to assign a unique identifier to every person viewing a document, regardless of whether or not they’re logged in, that will be prominently visible on each page. That is meant to provide organizations with the means to trace the source of unauthorized screenshots to the specific individual and thereby deter such activity.

Rounding out the controls is integration with Bloomberg Vault that provides auditing capabilities to track policy changes, which adds another line of defense against compliance breaches. Forthcoming certification for SEC Rule 17a-4 compliance will open up the functionality for trading and brokerage firms dealing in financial securities.