Let’s face it, social media is big. And by the looks of it, I would say, it’s only getting bigger. But social media has presented many new challenges for the financial services industry, especially in the area of security and compliance. In response to these challenges FINRA released Notice 10-06 which detailed regulatory guidelines related to the use of social media outlets. Even with these guidelines, for many firms, the answer was to just avoid social media outlets altogether. Management would ban the firm from tweeting or sharing their latest news on Facebook, Twitter and/or LinkedIn. In my eyes this is a major stumbling block for those firms, mainly due to the fact that everyone is online these days and if you don’t join in then you might just be left behind in Twitter dust. We here at FTF have a presence on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and I can’t even begin to count the connections we have made and the news we have learned via social media. It’s a great way to stay current and reach out to a network that would be unknown to us and we unknown to them.
But still, I can see the problem social media presents for larger firms that need to worry about breaching internal communication and privacy policies. There is no way large firms can follow all their employees’ actions online. So that’s why the release of SunGard’s new Protegent Social Media Surveillance product is essential for the industry. This product will help firms supervise their employees and the firm’s actions on social media regardless of the device used to make the posts – genius! Therefore, whether someone’s sitting at their desk or on the run and connecting via their phone, their tweets or posts are all being monitored. Basically, this tool will allow firms to stay in compliance with FINRA’s Notice 10-06 and their own internal policies. The product will allow for social media content to be automatically pre-approved before posting. It will also manage reporting, archiving and alerting capabilities in accordance with FINRA’s guidelines.
So will SunGard stand alone or are there similar products in the works from competitors? In my opinion, Protegent is a step in the right direction but it will be very interesting to see what other products emerge and what new capabilities they will bring to the game. Also, now that there’s the potential of security in social media, I’m excited to see who’s going to join the online social network! And with that all said, may the tweets abound…
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