The increasing popularity of WeChat in the workplace has altered many modern society components’ communication makeup, especially the financial sector.
Many companies and organizations are now adopting mobile platforms and secure chat applications to enhance employee collaboration and protect communication lines. Even if the communications are secured, such organizations must retrieve their communications data to comply with established data retention laws.
Requesting archived WeChat remains to be a challenge in many countries due to technical issues in the area and other local problems. Any difficulties with capturing mobile communications do not negate the citizen’s constitutional right for information. It’s essential to know how to archive text messages to ensure compliance with various regulatory requirements.
The following should be considered when using WeChat to ensure that firms comply with established regulations.
Gramm Leach Billey Act (GLBA)
The GLBA governs the protection of personal information in the hands of firms and companies in the financial service industry, including banks and insurance companies. The GLBA addresses the NPI or the Non-Public Personal Information, which includes information that financial companies collect from customers in connection with its services.
Financial services companies must secure NPI by restricting both disclosures and using NPI and notifying customers when exposed to unauthorized persons. Financial institutions will need secure WeChat monitoring solutions to ensure that NPI leaks’ risks will be minimal when using WeChat to communicate.
FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)
According to FINRA Rule 4511, firms must make and retain records and preserve said records for at least six years and in a format compliant with SEA rule 17a-4. This applies to written documents and digital content, including mobile SMS, MMS, calls, and WeChat messages.
There are specific conditions applicable to retaining electronic records for companies to comply with WeChat FINRA requirements. The record must be written in an unchangeable archive storage like WORM or Write Once, Read Many drives. It must also be discoverable, auditable, stored in a platform able to retain different records, and have a detailed destruction method to eliminate data traces.
SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)
Under SEC Rules 17a-3 and 17a-4, broker-dealers must create and preserve comprehensive records of every securities transaction they make in an easily accessible manner. Among the documents to be retained include asset and liability ledgers, customer account ledgers, order tickets, trade confirmations, trade blotters, canceled checks, and others.
NFA (National Futures Association)
The National Futures Association (NFA) protects the integrity of firms in the futures and derivatives market and their investors. The NFA expects its members to retain electronic records like emails, instant messages, mobile SMS, and others.
The records retained must be in writing, identify the person responsible for the review, specify the details of the record’s frequency and documentation, label the type of communications, and specify the electronic records’ maintenance.
State-Specific Statutes
Besides Federal statutes, state-specific laws are also imposed on certain entities that collect, hold, or transmit personal information. The New York Department of Financial Services or NYDFS is one state-specific law statute that obligates regulated entities to adopt a cybersecurity program and governance processes. The NYDFS also mandated the reporting of cybersecurity events, including data breaches and attempted infiltrations.
Conclusion
The various laws mentioned above are imposed to ensure that financial institutions and their employees won’t commit deceptive practices and fraudulent activities. Without efficient WeChat archiving solutions that can capture WeChat conversations, firms are at risk of suffering data breaches and their staff committing fraud.
With TeleMessage, firms can easily comply with WeChat FINRA and other relevant laws’ data retention requirements with their text message monitoring solutions. TeleMessage’s WeChat Archiver is a unique platform tailor-made to solve WeChat compliance and regulation issues by allowing companies in regulated sectors to capture and archive WeChat messages, including conversations held in group chats. This platform works exactly like the standard WeChat application, ensuring that the employees can continue using WeChat to easily and quickly send work-related communications.
The benefits of using WeChat Archiver include:
- Archive all WeChat communications
- Use WeChat to communicate with customers, employees, and stakeholders
- Search, track and retrieve WeChat messages in the corporate archive
- Deposit WeChat messages with any email archiving vendor
- Full administration and reporting
The TeleMessage WeChat Archiver is the latest addition to our mobile archiving products that securely capture messages from mobile carriers and mobile devices for various ownership models (BYOD, CYOD, and employer-issued). With our multiple archiving methods, you can find the right tools for your requirements:
Visit our website today at www.telemessage.com to learn more about how our mobile archiving products can help your firm maintain compliance with government text archiving regulations.
