Directly communicating with clients outside the silos constructed by your firm has become more commonplace as mobile apps and social media level up.
But what happens when those connections fall outside the guidelines of the SEC, FINRA or state regulators?
Spoiler alert. Fines happen. Big ones. Like the $1.5 billion raked in by the SEC since last year as the regulator cracks down on off-channel communications with regular sweeps.
To help firms ensure that their off-channel communications don't land them in hot water with the powers that be, Smarsh and Optima Partners Compliance Advisory recently teamed up to break down the right and wrong way to leverage mobile communications.
Get it right, and you unlock the power for your firm to connect with clients in a way that shifts the relationship from something transactional to something real.
Get it wrong, and Gary Gensler adds your firm's name to a growing list of casualties in an upcoming enforcement alert.
"It's really the behavior of the culture of these firms and the industry as a whole … it's very hard to change behavior," said Steve Boyd, a director at Optima. "But when you see these types of (regulatory) actions come out against these firms, it makes these firms think. And I think they are thinking about this a little bit more and asking the right questions and trying to be on the right side of it.
"In almost all instances, nobody's trying to be a bad actor. But there are bad actors out there. So what a firm can do to try to mitigate bad actors from acting in that regard really goes beyond just the policies and procedures."
Check out thefull story and much more, only at Financial Planning.
Anything else on your mind? Drop me a line at justin.mack@arizent.com. Have a great holiday weekend!
Regards,
Justin

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