Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against a registered investment adviser for widespread and longstanding failures to maintain and preserve certain electronic communications; the matter was settled for $6.5 million. This case is notable because it is the first time the SEC has brought charges against an RIA with no ties to a broker-dealer regarding off-channel communications.
e-Comms surveillance is in the regulatory crosshairs and anecdotal feedback from many RegTech vendors suggests that meaningful enforcement actions are having a positive effect on investment in e-Comms compliance technology.
RegTech Insight has compiled a list of the top e-Comms surveillance providers to consider in 2024, based on A-Team Group research as well as the entries and voting by our readership of e-Comms Surveillance solution providers in our recent RegTech Insight Awards USA and RegTech Insight Awards Europe.
Steel-Eye
Winner of Best e-Comms Surveillance Solution 2023 in our RegTech Insight Awards (Europe).
SteelEye offers comprehensive compliance solutions for the financial industry, including integrated trade and communications surveillance, trade surveillance and supervision, communications monitoring and surveillance, archiving and trade reconstruction, MiFIR transaction reporting, and best execution and transaction cost analysis (TCA). It’s designed to provide financial firms with holistic oversight of all trading and communications activity, enabling them to comply with confidence. By consolidating data, simplifying information archiving and supervision, and empowering firms to control their data, SteelEye aims to simplify compliance requirements and ease regulatory pressures through data-driven automation. The platform supports a variety of communication channels including iMessage, WhatsApp, and Zoom, and connects directly to most order and execution management systems, trading platforms, and liquidity management tools.
NICE Actimize
Winner of Best e-Comms Surveillance Solution 2023 in our RegTech Insight Awards(US)
NICE Actimize is a leading provider of financial crime, risk, and compliance solutions, offering advanced technology to fight financial crime. Their solutions include Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Enterprise Fraud Management, Financial Markets Compliance, Investigation and Case Management, and Data Intelligence. These solutions are supported by platforms including X-Sight and Xceed, supported by AI and analytics to enhance operational efficiency and decision-making. NICE Actimize’s approach is entity-centric, utilizing AI and machine learning to optimize efficacy and accuracy, ensure full regulatory compliance, and provide auditability. With over 1000 clients globally, and monitoring over 5 billion of $6+ trillion daily, NICE Actimize is recognized for its contribution to enhancing financial security and compliance.
MCO My Compliance Office
Winner of Best e-Comms Surveillance Solution 2024 in our RegTech Insight Awards (APAC)
MyComplianceOffice (MCO) offers a comprehensive compliance management software solution designed to streamline compliance operations for financial firms. MCO covers a wide range of compliance needs, including e-Comms Surveillance, Know Your Employee (KYE) for personal trading compliance, gifts, entertainment, hospitality, political contributions, and donations, and external business activities. The platform also features Know Your Transactions (KYT) for trade surveillance, as well as Know Your Third Party (KYTP) for third-party risk and approvals. Additionally, MCO addresses Know Your Obligations (KYO) with tools for regulatory change management, compliance risk management, compliance assurance, and policy content governance. MCO aims to provide a single, powerful platform to tackle tough challenges, making compliance operations more efficient and integrated.
https://mco.mycomplianceoffice.com
1Global
1Global offers secure mobile recording and compliance solutions tailored for banks and financial institutions, ensuring quick setup and adaptability to rapidly evolving financial markets globally. Their compliance product is designed to keep pace with regulatory changes, offering a comprehensive solution that covers all bases from voice to WhatsApp. This ensures every communication is recorded, monitored, and stored. Highlighting its partnership with Smarsh, a recognized e-communications surveillance vendor, 1Global positions itself as a facilitator of regulatory compliance, integrating seamlessly with personal devices in a BYOD-friendly manner. Their multi-channel mastery spans voice, SMS, WhatsApp, etc., ensuring global compliance reach and cost-effective solutions for today’s digital and mobile communication needs. 1Global stands out for its emphasis on seamless global connectivity, integrating telecommunications and compliance solutions across a wide array of platforms, including the innovative use of eSIM technology for enhanced global reach and operational efficiency. Their services cater to the broad spectrum of the capital markets ecosystem, demonstrating versatility and a commitment to compliance and connectivity excellence.
ACA Group
ACA Group offers scalable compliance, risk, and technology solutions for financial services firms. Their services include Compliance Advisory, with programs for development, enhancement, reviews, and mock exams; Cybersecurity, offering resilience, governance, and assessment services; Distribution services including Broker-Dealer offerings and ETF solutions; ESG Advisory, Data, and Analytics for portfolio monitoring; and Investment Performance services with GIPS compliance and analytics. They also provide Managed Services, Regulatory Hosting, technology solutions through ComplianceAlpha for automated compliance management, and advisory services for AML and financial crimes. ACA aims to support firms in meeting regulatory obligations while protecting against financial and reputational risk, leveraging their team of former regulators, compliance professionals, legal professionals, and technology experts.
ASC Technologies
ASC Technologies specializes in cloud-based recording and AI-driven analytics, offering solutions tailored to various industries including financial institutions, contact centers, and public safety. Their products are designed to close compliance gaps, enhance customer experience, and analyze valuable data across all media channels such as voice, video, screen, chat, or meetings. Key offerings include; Compliance Recording for meeting next-level compliance requirements in regulated industries; Customer Experience Management leveraging omnichannel recording and AI-driven analytics to improve service; AI enhanced analysis and evaluation of interactions for deeper insights. ASC’s solutions are cloud-based, ensuring fast deployment, full flexibility, ease of use, and high security with end-to-end encryption. They serve a global clientele, emphasizing the importance of seamless integration into Microsoft Teams for compliance recording and providing a comprehensive cloud-based model for communication recording and analysis.
Behavox
Quantum AI from Behavox enhances compliance programs by integrating advanced AI capabilities to monitor and analyze communications within financial institutions. Its solutions are designed to handle a wide range of data types, including voice communications, which are supported by its advanced transcription services, Behavox Voice. The platform offers comprehensive compliance tools that include risk identification, regulatory intelligence, and an intelligent archive system powered by Google Cloud, that aims to transform financial compliance with its innovative technology. Behavox services are geared towards providing firms with the means to conduct thorough oversight and maintain compliance across regulatory jurisdictions, thereby enhancing overall compliance, operational integrity, and security.
Founded in 2014, Behavox is headquartered in London and has offices in New York City, Montreal, Seattle, Singapore, and Tokyo.
Bloomberg Vault
Bloomberg Vault is an integrated compliance and surveillance solution designed to help global financial services firms meet their regulatory obligations and business standards. Vault enables firms to capture, control, archive, reconstruct, and analyze their e-communication, trade, and voice data across the entire trading life cycle on a real time or historic basis.
From MiFID II to Dodd-Frank to MAR and beyond, complex and changing regulatory and business requirements are an inevitability for everyone in compliance and control roles. Alongside the complexity are increased volumes and additional channels driven by remote work. In order to mitigate risks and threats, firms must secure proper frameworks to retain communications and trading records and perform surveillance across their enterprises.
https://www.bloomberg.com/professional/products/compliance/vault/#control-instead-of-complexity
eflowglobal
eflow is a RegTech company built on 20 years of continuous innovation, providing regulatory compliance solutions engineered to support financial institutions’ regulatory obligations. Their technology combines highly configurable, modular tools with extensive industry expertise, enabling robust, streamlined, and efficient management of regulatory controls. Solutions include TZEC eComms Surveillance for comprehensive communication channel oversight, TZTR Transaction Reporting for EMIR and MiFIR, TZTS Trade Surveillance and Market Abuse powered by machine learning for monitoring trades, and TZBE Best Execution and Transaction Cost Analysis (TCA). The PATH digital ecosystem underpins all eflow modules, reflecting over two decades of in-house research, development, and enhancements made in partnership with leading financial institutions worldwide.
Global Relay
Global Relay offers a comprehensive product and service suite to ensure compliance across all business communications. With a focus on mitigating risk and adapting to evolving regulations, Global Relay’s solutions integrate seamlessly into any compliance strategy, covering every step of the communication compliance journey. Their offerings include; App, a compliant messaging platform that supports voice, SMS, WhatsApp, and other channels, allowing for collaboration within regulatory guidelines; Connectors, high-performance data connectors that capture communications from any channel, ensuring comprehensive compliance coverage; Archive, an AI-powered, cloud-based archive that meets the stringent record-keeping requirements of heavily regulated industries; Surveillance, an AI-enabled solution for proactive supervision and risk management, featuring data classification, escalation workflows, and audit reports. Global Relay’s services extend to data migration, professional support, and discovery as a service, providing expert advice and seamless, secure data migration to their private cloud archive. Their commitment to security, combined with a collaborative partner program and a wealth of resources including blogs, case studies, and webinars, positions Global Relay as a leader in e-comms solutions for regulated organizations of all sizes.
Insightful Technology
SOTERIATM by Insightful Technology is an advanced compliance and surveillance platform that provides end-to-end management of communication data for regulatory and governance purposes. The platform allows for complex keyword and phrase searching, proactive alerting, voice-to-text transcription, and translation, ensuring comprehensive coverage and security of data. SOTERIATM supports the construction of virtual case files for trade reconstruction, customizable surveillance workflows, and eDiscovery processes, making it a versatile tool for managing corporate compliance. Additionally, the system features advanced voice analytics with high transcription accuracy, supporting robust data analysis and reporting capabilities.
https://insightfultechnology.com
Kaizen Reporting
Kaizen Reporting offers proprietary surveillance solutions designed to support middle office and compliance teams in adhering to market abuse regulations and detecting forms of market manipulation such as spoofing and layering. Their system integrates trade and communications monitoring into one streamlined platform, facilitating automated detection of market abuse and insider trading. Key features include combined alerts for trade and communications activity, policy and case management functionalities, multi-channel communications monitoring across various electronic channels, and an intuitive drag-and-drop feature for unified trade and communications data search feeds. Their surveillance solution stands out for its ability to provide intelligent evidence gathering and data storage in alignment with SEC, FINRA, and ESMA guidelines, ensuring compliance with Market Abuse Regulations (MAR). Online case management workflows aid compliance teams in swiftly resolving market abuse cases, complemented by a policy and rules manager and an archived evidence log. Kaizen Reporting emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to surveillance, integrating trade data and communications monitoring to offer a comprehensive solution for today’s complex regulatory environment.
Kerv
Kerv provides a comprehensive Compliance as a Service offering that caters specifically to the financial markets and other regulated industries. Their service encapsulates the unified management of communications, compliance recording, and surveillance across various media channels. Kerv’s solutions are tailored to adapt to the dynamic nature of modern business communications which now heavily utilize tools like Microsoft Teams, WhatsApp, and other digital platforms. Their service ensures that all forms of communication are compliantly recorded, stored, and retrievable in accordance with regulatory standards like FCA and MiFID II. Additionally, Kerv offers expert consultation and implementation services, helping businesses migrate to cloud-based systems or integrate new communication technologies while remaining compliant.
LeapXpert
LeapXpert advances corporate communication by enabling a “Single Professional Identity” for employees, which integrates client messaging and voice communications into one compliant and governed system. Their platform allows organizations to modernize client communication, eliminating traditional boundaries by letting clients reach representatives through any preferred messaging or voice app under a unified number. This approach not only simplifies communication but also ensures compliance by capturing and archiving conversations, including texts, files, emojis, and stickers. Furthermore, LeapXpert introduces measures to protect enterprise information by setting barriers and rules for communication, alongside real-time insights from client interactions which enhance productivity and customer engagement.
SHIELD
Shield is the AI Digital Communications Governance platform for financial services, focusing on capturing and analyzing communications data. The platform offers solutions such as Records Management for electronic records & archiving, Compliance eDiscovery, Surveillance for electronic communications monitoring, Supervision for communication supervision, and Control Room surveillance. It aims to streamline compliance processes, enable proactive monitoring of information integrity, and provide comprehensive supervision tools to analyze and monitor communications across various channels. Shield’s technology is designed to dramatically reduce alert rates through multilayered AI, allowing compliance teams to focus on the alerts that matter, thus minimizing risk and ensuring regulatory compliance.
Smarsh.com
Smarsh is a global leader in digital communications capture, archiving, and oversight, serving organizations in highly regulated sectors for over 20 years. The solution offers a single capture, archive, supervision, and discovery platform, that meets the needs of the world’s largest enterprises and financial services firms. The platform proactively detects and reviews red flags in employee communications, capturing all communications across various channels in a single place. Smarsh offers purpose-built solutions for today’s communication tools and enables real-time search of e-coms archived data to support litigation and investigatory activities.
Symphony
Symphony is recognized as the only secure and compliance-enabling collaboration platform specifically built for the financial markets. Symphony offers solutions to enhance client engagement across various channels including WhatsApp, WeChat, and SMS while meeting regulatory recordkeeping requirements. It facilitates efficient workflows and compliant communication by connecting financial market workflows and providing solutions that include voice capture and digital transcription via Cloud9. Symphony’s platform supports secure bilateral and multilateral real-time chat and file-sharing via Embedded Collaboration for trade-break resolution. The platform serves over half a million users across more than 1,000 institutions globally, including the largest asset managers and investment banks by revenue.
ThetaLake
ThetaLake provides a comprehensive Digital Communications Governance (DCG) system designed to enhance compliance across various communication modalities in Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) platforms. Their solution includes advanced features such as automated capture, compliance archiving, and supervision tools. It is specifically engineered to handle the complex needs of modern enterprises by integrating seamlessly with existing archives and voice recording systems, enabling organizations to manage and secure their communications effectively. ThetaLake’s platform supports a wide array of integrations, facilitating broad UCC feature adoption while maintaining compliance and enhancing productivity through risk detection and mitigation.
Verint
Verint’s Financial Compliance solutions are designed to address the comprehensive needs of financial institutions navigating the complexities of regulatory compliance. The platform offers an array of capabilities to ensure firms can capture, secure, analyze, and manage regulated interactions across a wide range of communication and collaboration platforms in a unified and cohesive manner.
Key features include; Capture, a holistic approach to recording all regulated interactions, ensuring they’re securely stored and accessible for analysis; Communications Profiling and Data Insights, utilizing advanced speech recognition, voice analytics, and surveillance features; Mobile Recording, solutions for capturing and managing regulated mobile communications; Microsoft Teams and Zoom Compliance Recording, enterprise-grade solutions for complaint capture and archive.
https://www.verint.com/financial-compliance/
Veritas
Veritas Alta Surveillance offers an end-to-end communications surveillance solution optimized for cloud environments, aimed at helping organizations achieve regulatory compliance. The system uses AI, machine learning, and natural language processing to efficiently monitor and supervise communication channels, pinpoint risky behaviors, and manage compliance obligations. Veritas Alta Surveillance is designed to capture and archive a wide range of communication data — including chats, emails, audio, and video — ensuring that all content is retained in immutable storage. This platform allows organizations to streamline supervisory reviews and enhance compliance measures across more than 120 different communication and collaboration content sources.
So, there you have it. The top 19 providers in e-Comms Surveillance for 2024. If you feel any provider is missing from this list do let us know and our team can review your suggestions!
Email pr@a-teamgroup.com.
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