Secure Communication with FINRA-Compliant Messaging Apps

Compliance in financial services is not a choice – it is a commitment. Every trade, every client call, and every internal chat has to be done by the book, especially in terms of documentation and communication. Under FINRA regulations, making sure all communications across teams are compliant means making sure each message sent on team messaging platforms-even those innocent-when-sent-in-a-hurry chats-is just as compliant.

As regulations get stricter, the pressure to comply with them increases. That’s where FINRA compliance chat text messaging apps come in. These apps ensure your conversations, whether internal or client-facing, are archived, monitored, and ready for auditing – so you’re never caught off guard during a compliance review.

For those businesses reliant on chat messaging, selecting an application that meets FINRA compliance standards is paramount. Without the proper platform, you risk overlooking crucial regulations and making very costly mistakes. In this post, we explain why it’s important for chat apps to follow FINRA protocols. And here we also show how the right tools can help you stay compliant while keeping your workflow efficient.

To make it easy for you, we’ve rounded up a list of top FINRA-compliant chat applications that will get your messages going with regulatory compliances in one beat. You may go ahead and read over some great options for your group.

The 4 best FINRA-compliant messaging apps

• Bloomberg Chat for secure and compliant messaging in the financial sector
• Smarsh for archiving and compliance monitoring of communications
• Global Relay for secure messaging and compliance across industries
• Thomson Reuters (Eikon) for professional messaging and market analysis with compliance

What is FINRA compliance, and why does it matter?

If you work in financial services, you’ve probably heard of FINRA, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. If not, it’s time you did. FINRA is the self-regulating organization responsible for overseeing broker-dealers and their registered representatives. Its mission? To protect investors and assure the integrity of the securities industry.

Now, you may be wondering, “That sounds important, but why does it matter to me?”

FINRA compliance ensures that communications, records, and reporting in your firm follow the rules. What this really means is that every chat message or email sent to a client or within the firm represents a regulatory responsibility of yours. In other words, communications can’t be just convenient, and fast; they must be traceable, properly archived, and available for audit upon demand.

Failure to follow FINA compliance could have severe repercussions: from heavy fines to the cancelation of your firm’s license. Yikes, right?

But here’s a thing: compliance doesn’t have to be such a headache. Once you understand the basics, you can take easy steps to stay compliant. This way, your workflow won’t be interrupted.

So, why is FINRA compliance important for text messaging chat apps? In a word, it protects your business, your clients, and your reputation. With FINRA-compliant chat apps, your team’s messages are securely stored and ready to go if the regulators come knocking.  They help avoid a legal mess caused by missed or overlooked communication.

Here are a few of the key things FINRA compliance helps with:

• Record-keeping: Every message must be retained for a certain period of time, typically at least three years. If you use chat messaging, it is required that you do so. 
• Supervision: Your messages must be surveilled for potentially misleading or otherwise inappropriate content. FINRA-compliant apps have features to flag or capture these. 
•  Auditability: In the event of any regulatory audit, your team should quickly provide the data requested. It is much easier with a compliant app.

It might seem like a lot to keep track of, but the right tools make this process seamless. FINRA-compliant chat apps securely handle messages and records, so you don’t have to worry about manual tracking. This allows you to focus on what really matters: building relationships and making smart financial decisions.

Key features of FINRA compliance chat text messaging apps

For any firm following FINRA regulations, finding a balance between compliance and usability is key when it comes to selecting a chat messaging app. Below are the must-have features that will keep your team compliant:

1. Message archiving: FINRA requires that all communications, including chat messages, be stored in a secure location for at least three years. Your chat application should store messages by default and enable easy retrieval during audits or reviews for compliance.
2. Supervision and monitoring: A good application should have supervisory tools to monitor messages as they happen and send you alerts in case of any suspicious activity. So you can catch potential compliance violations before they become problems.
3. Search and retrieval: It’s very important to have a search feature. Your app should let you quickly search through messages, filter by keywords or dates, and retrieve conversations at a moment’s notice, especially during audits.
4. Audit trails: Audit trails keep track of all activities within the application, like editing and deleting messages. This way, all actions remain transparent and accountable, providing a complete record of user activity.
5. Data encryption: Obviously, encryption will keep your messages secure. Your chat app should offer end-to-end encryption so that only the sender and receiver can read the content of the messages.
6. Compliance reports: The application should have compliance reports that summarize all the data on message archiving, monitoring, and other compliance measures.
7. User permissions: A system of user permission ensures that only those who have access to sensitive information or change important settings can, in turn, maintain security and compliance.
8. Integration with other tools: It’s also good for the chat app to work in harmony with any other tools at your firm – for example, CRM or document storage systems-to guarantee consistency and compliance across the board.

Now that you know what to look for, below are some of the most promising FINRA-compliant chatting applications.  Each of the mentioned platforms does have most, if not all, of these features, and many more that help your company stay compliant with FINRA policies.

Top FINRA-compliant messaging apps

1. Bloomberg Chat

Bloomberg Chat is part of the Bloomberg Terminal, a messaging platform on which most financial professionals securely communicate in real-time. It is preferred in the financial industry because it provides convenience to the full compliance of FINRA, SEC, and other financial industry regulations.

Key features:

• Real-time messaging among financial professionals
• Completely FINRA, SEC, and other regulatory-compliant
• Automatic archiving and monitoring of messages for compliance.
• Seamlessly integrate with Bloomberg’s financial tools and platforms.

Bloomberg Chat is ideal for financial institutions that require secure, real-time communication and also have to meet strict regulatory requirements. Rich in features, it is fast becoming an indispensable tool among professionals working for investment banks, hedge funds, and trading firms.

2. Smarsh

Smarsh is a solution for the archiving and monitoring of communication specifically tailored for highly regulated industries, such as finance. It securely archives text messages and communications across multichannel systems, including social media, emails, and instant messaging. Its strongest suit is compliance with the requirements of FINRA, SEC, and similar bodies.

Key features:

• Archives communications from text messages, emails, social media, and more.
• Meets compliance standards such as FINRA, SEC, and other regulatory bodies.
• Cloud-based solution for easy access and storage of communication data.
• Support for multiple communication channels like emails, texts, and social media.

 Smarsh will be the ultimate tracking and archiving solution that your firm has ever thought of. Kept in good care by your firm, compliant while you track your communications across an extensive array of platforms.

3. Global Relay

Global Relay is a secure messaging solution to help financial services firms meet regulatory requirements. It provides secure, encrypted messaging with archiving to make sure every communication meets FINRA and SEC standards. Additionally, Global Relay allows easy access to past messages for auditing and compliance review.

Key features:

• Encrypted messaging for secure communication.
• Full compliance with FINRA, SEC, and other financial regulations.
• Automatic archiving for message retention.
• In-built search functionality to find messages in audits.

With Global Relay, financial institutions get a comprehensive solution for communications with security in messaging, archiving, and compliance all on one platform. That makes it an excellent choice for firms looking for a single platform to manage all their needs related to communication compliance.

4. Thomson Reuters (Eikon)

Eikon by Thomson Reuters is an integrated information platform that offers real-time financial data with secure communication features, including messaging. Financial professionals use Eikon to securely communicate and have it engineered in such a way that stringent compliance requirements laid out by FINRA and the SEC are well adhered to.

Key features:

• Real-time secure messaging between traders, analysts, and clients.
• FINRA, SEC, and other industry standard compliance.
• Automatic archiving to retain messages for regulatory purposes. 
• Full integration with Eikon’s financial tools to communicate and make decisions with ease.

For financial professionals seeking a solution that combines data, analytics, and secure communication, Eikon is the best option. It will allow users to securely communicate and make sure that all messages are archived for compliance.

Chanty: A solution for secure communication in finance-team collaboration

Chanty is a team collaboration platform developed to keep communication simple, secure, and effective. Though it never positioned itself as FINRA-compliant, Chanty allows encrypted messaging and flexible architecture for businesses to integrate third-party tools that will make the platform comply with FINRA requirements. To finance firms, Chanty offers the ability to maintain secure messaging while driving collaboration and productivity among team members.

In the world of finance, everything is so dynamic. Clear and secure communication is important. Chanty can let teams, clients, and stakeholders communicate in real time while securing sensitive financial data. It supports internal coordination within a financial institution by enabling the sharing of quick updates and keeping everyone on the same page.

Key features:

• Message encryption: Security is the top priority of every financial institution dealing with sensitive information.
• Message history: It is easy to track conversations and records to assist in most regulatory requirements.
• Integration with compliance tools: Easily integrate with archiving and monitoring solutions for industry regulations.
• Team collaboration: Enable finance teams to collaborate effectively by sharing files and information in a single, centralized location.

Chanty is really friendly in use and integration for financial firms. Be that internal discussions or communicating with clients, Chanty structures everything in a secure way. Since Chanty is flexible, it can be adjusted to meet the requirements that come from compliance officers, financial consultants, and other professionals working in the financial world.

Bottom line: Choosing the best FINRA-compliant messaging app

When it comes to selecting the right FINRA-compliant chat text messaging app, the goal is simple: streamline communication while staying fully compliant. By focusing on the key features we’ve discussed – message archiving, monitoring, audit trails, encryption, and more – you’ll ensure your team’s communications meet regulatory standards without creating unnecessary headaches.

But that is not all: great apps balance features of compliance, make design user-friendly, integrate smoothly with your other tools, and offer efficient functionality for search. This frees your team up to be more productive and get on with the things that matter, safe in the knowledge that all communication is secure, stored, and easily accessible for compliance reviews.

Here’s how to take action:

• Prioritize compliance features: Look for those apps that provide for secure archiving, real-time monitoring, and audit trails.
• Test a few options: Experiment with a few applications in order to ascertain which one is going to provide the best return with your team’s workflow along with the needs of your regulators.
• Consider user experience: Make sure the application is user-friendly, yet provides an emphasis on compliance.

Don’t settle for just any messaging tool. Choose the one that fits your team’s needs. The right app will improve communication, minimize risks, and make compliance easier.

Looking to take your team’s communication to the next level while staying FINRA-compliant? Try Chanty for free and see how it can revolutionize your collaboration without sacrificing compliance!