Global Relay Industry Insights: Compliant Communications 2024
Access unique insights into compliant communications trends and see how financial firms are adapting their approach to channel capture to meet increasing regulatory demands and keep pace with industry transformation in 2024.
Within Global Relay’s Industry Insights Report, we break down some of the most pressing questions around communications compliance, such as whether more firms are capturing prevalent platforms, how teams are managing employee behavior, views on how social media and AI will impact compliance, and the role of surveillance in tackling risk.
A peek at our findings…
- 55% of financial institutions consider social media to be an emerging area of compliance risk
- 65% of firms believe that getting employees to comply with rules for electronic communications is their biggest challenge in 2024
- 44% of compliance teams still ban WhatsApp and WeChat, despite ongoing regulatory enforcement action (and they’re still not confident channel bans are effective)
- 67% of firms are using BYOD policies, up from 51% in 2023
- 42% of financial institutions plan on using AI in compliance workflows in 2024
- However, 65% of North American firms don’t plan on using AI
For Global Relay’s second annual Industry Insights report, we have collected and evaluated industry responses to movement around record retention, surveillance, and communications compliance. We aim to uncover how leaders in compliance, risk, and surveillance roles are approaching business communication use, and their thoughts on emerging risk areas like AI and social media.
Regulatory enforcements around off-channel communications – particularly concerning WhatsApp – have become a familiar tale. Catalyzed by a $200 million fine in 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have issued a string of enforcements against financial institutions for recordkeeping failures, with certain enforcement rounds reaching over $1 billion.
Beyond WhatsApp, regulators have continually emphasized the need for complete capture of all business communications. This had urged firms to reassess their retention of other popular instant messaging channels like WeChat and Teams. In addition, regulators have increased their concentration on social media communications including LinkedIn, and even Instagram.
In light of fines for record retention violations, we’ve seen a variety of responses from the industry. On the one hand, firms are electing to ban certain channels completely, and on the other, they are choosing to enable channel use on corporate-owned or employee devices. Despite continued bans, trends point towards an increase in the implementation of compliant solutions.
So, what does the future of communications compliance hold? With advancements in evolving tech like AI and crypto, heightened concerns around cybersecurity, and regulatory governance around recordkeeping and surveillance tightening due to channel proliferation, the industry is sure to see changes. At the heart of it all is data – making clear that firms must take care in upholding their data governance to maintain compliance.
Global Relay’s Industry Insights: Compliant Communications 2024 report gives beneficial intel on the following topics:
- Whether firms continue to ban prevalent channels or are moving toward capture solutions as regulatory scrutiny intensifies
- How firms are ensuring communications compliance, especially when it comes to employee behavior and technological challenges
- If firms are changing their approach to BYOD in light of regulatory fines, or are issuing corporate-owned devices
- Whether U.K. regulators will increase concentration around communications compliance following U.S. enforcements
- How firms are managing social media, and if they view it as a compliance risk
- The consensus around AI within compliance, and whether it’s a risk, reward, or both
- The ways that firms are utilizing surveillance to tackle non-financial misconduct
