On December 17th, the SEC released a Risk Alert that focused on procedures relating to electronic communications between advisors and clients. Based on a limited study, conducted by the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”), of RIAs and their communication practices, the findings are applicable to all firms that abide by the record-keeping … Continue reading Risk Alert re SMS/Texting and Instant Messaging from the SEC OCIE →

FINRA – The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to investor protection and market integrity. It regulates one critical part of the securities industry – brokerage firms doing business with the public in the United States. FINRA, overseen by the SEC, writes rules, examines for and enforces compliance with FINRA rules … Continue reading Find CellTrust in the new FINRA Compliance Vendor Directory →

In a growing wealth management practice one of the major expenses is provisioning software and hardware for new employees. Adding an employee can cost thousands in software and hardware (computer & phone) as well as time setting them up in various systems, and that doesn’t include the costs of upgrading software and hardware over time. … Continue reading Is the office telephone system obsolete? →

One of the concerns that comes along with opening up various lines of communication between financial advisors and clients is, “How does it remain compliant?” With the plethora of communication options now available, monitoring and archiving everything is seemingly an impossible task. Even offering just one option – like SMS messaging – can reveal a … Continue reading Archiving made easy: Staying compliant across all modes of communication →

There’s no better place to get a pulse on the world of financial services compliance than the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) annual conference. Held in Atlanta at the end of October 2018, the CellTrust team was on the floor getting the thoughts of some of the best and brightest in this field.   … Continue reading Prohibition or Innovation? A look at what is on the mind of Compliance Leaders in Financial Services today →

Jeff is a wealth manager in a large city in the United States. He works for a medium size RIA, is assisted by a team of support staff and manages 75 client relationships.   Jeff wakes early at 5am. As is his routine, he checks his work email to make sure everything is lined up … Continue reading Avoiding the Perfect Storm in Communication: A Day in the Life of a Wealth Manager →

Technology innovation is happening quickly. Career-long financial advisors can tell you stories of how they created and updated financial plans using the stock market data page of the Wall Street Journal when they were starting out. They had to rely on their fax machine to quickly transfer data to clients and speaking on the phone … Continue reading Compliant mobile communications: The next phase in the advisor-client relationship →

The best companies have people who aren’t afraid to be authentic. Stuart Browne is just that. Being educated across two continents, having travelled to 29 countries, and an avid player of squash, he brings dynamic business and life experience to his new role at CellTrust. I sat down with Stuart to find out more. 1. … Continue reading The real story of Stuart Browne, Chief Corporate Development Officer of CellTrust →

Roughly 200 million Americans—about 79 percent of the population—own a smartphone, comScore says. Since 2010, the amount using those devices to follow political campaigns on social media has more than doubled to almost one third of registered voters, according to Pew Research Center. Those figures highlight why savvy campaigns are increasingly mining unstructured data from … Continue reading The State of Social Media, Smartphones & Politics →