Smarsh Bolsters Mobile, Voice and App Compliance Capabilities to Address Critical Gaps for Wealth Management Firm Compliance Departments
Ask any compliance officer in wealth management their top headaches and you’ll likely hear about the proliferation of communications methods – especially in the post-pandemic work-from-home environment– causing compliance gaps that upset regulators and open doors for legal liability blindsides.
Smarsh’s recently announced acquisition of mobile message, voice capture and archiving specialist TeleMessage aims to combine the strengths of both firms to present a comprehensive set of tools that covers gaps in compliance surveillance of communications.
The regtech firm’s Chief Product Officer, Goutam Nadella, summarizes the problem: “[G]iven the new hybrid workforce and how digitally connected everyone is, it’s more challenging than ever to monitor all the new voice and text channels.”
“Simply put, firms everywhere are overwhelmed by all the new channels – like WhatsApp, WeChat and more effective coverage for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) models – that are necessary for business but pose real risks.”
Some of the Largest Regulatory Fines Yet
Smarsh states that American regulators have issued some of their largest fines ever to firms that failed to monitor WhatsApp, and the regulatory environment continues to intensify as regulators have increased their warnings, scrutiny and enforcement around these gaps, including license revocation.
Folding in TeleMessage’s tools with its own, Smarsh will establish a wide net of coverage including corporate mobile devices, consumer apps WhatsApp, WeChat, Signal and Telegram, BYOD “virtual phones” and collaboration apps such as Teams, Slack and Zoom.
“Now more than ever, regulated companies everywhere have to have a trusted solution that can allow their regulated employees to use any mobile chat or mobile communication channel, while remaining compliant,” said Guy Levit, CEO of TeleMessage.
Levit states that the combined firm will “deliver solutions that help firms around the globe improve efficiency, reach, and customer engagements by enabling mobile communications while protecting their company’s bottom line and reputation.”
Janeesa Hollingshead, Executive Editor at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at editor@wealthsolutionsreport.com
