Nowadays, email is just a one piece of a much bigger pie. Companies are deploying new forms of communication left and right, and the pace is only accelerating. It’s likely that you’re using several real-time communications tools to do business at this very moment. For me, this morning I used email, uploaded documents to Sharepoint, IM’d during a WebEx, messaged on Facebook, direct messaged on Twitter, plus texted and Skyped with my colleagues. I even used WhatsApp to reach out to a contractor in the UK.
You’re faced with a complex communications landscape that could look very different two years from now, even just 6 months from now. But, strip away the complexity and all the bells and whistles . . . at the end of the day, you still have to comply with all applicable regulations, corporate policies, and legal requirements around supervision.
As communications channels have exploded, firms have been challenged to interpret the existing 20th century supervision rules and regulations for these new 21st century communications modalities.
Supervisory requirements are well defined within FINRA 3110. But there’s been newer guidance especially for newer form of communications like social media with FINRA’s regulatory notices 10-06 and 11-39, updates to the Communications rules, more recently, FINRA spot checks on social media for broker dealers. FINRA is looking for written supervisory procedures to make sure that social media at the corporate level and at the FA level is being actively supervised
There are also regulators from SEBI in India, IIROC in Canada and the FCA in the UK who have weighed in on social media. The retail banking regulator, FFIEC, even included a discussion of risk and ROI in its guidance. Interestingly, FDA has offered the most granular guidance to date. Even if you are not governed by the FDA, their guidance is worth a look.
However, there is a common theme, regardless of industry or country. Content is determinative. If it’s an electronic business record, supervisory obligations apply to all communication channels – not just email. In the end, firms must evidence that they are supervising their employees, regardless of the channel they use to communicate.
Interested in learning more about Supervision? Join the Subject Matter Experts at Actiance, Gopal Ramanujam, Robert A. Cruz, and me, Joanna Belbey, during a free webinar on Wednesday, November 11 at 1pm.
In “Supervision Can Be Exciting… If You Are Using Actiance Alcatraz” you will hear about regulatory implications of managing the growth of social, IM, collaborative and messaging channels and how Alcatraz can help.
Click here to enroll.
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