We’ve now officially entered Q4, and as firms focus on 2022 planning, compliance teams are considering the importance of social media compliance. The recent ‘Roaring Kitty’ case resulted in a $4 million fine for not having reasonable policies and procedures in place to detect and monitor social media activity, but knowledge of this news hasn’t necessarily translated into prompt action.
We surveyed a group of financial services compliance professionals at our recent Supervisor Training webinar and learned that while firms may be aware of the news story, and may have some policies in place, thorough social media monitoring has not been a top priority for many compliance teams:
- 53% of attendees require approval of company posts, but only 17% require approval of both company and employee posts
- Only 48% of attendees require employees to disclose their social media accounts
- 57% of attendees have policies in place, or are considering implementing policies, that require employees to disclose of social media accounts
Despite the above, compliance professionals we surveyed appear content with the status quo. If the $4 million fine resulting from the ‘Roaring Kitty’ case has made headlines, it hasn’t caused compliance teams to implement robust technology to automate the social media monitoring process:
- 63% of attendees don’t have a social media monitoring vendor, and don’t consider it a top priority in the next 6 months
This is in contrast to priorities outlined by the SEC. In a recent speech, Gurbir Grewal, Director, Division of Enforcement, emphasized the growing importance of monitoring employee communications, including social media, saying “You need to be actively thinking about and addressing the many compliance issues raised by the increased use of personal devices, new communications channels, and other technological developments like ephemeral apps.”
Compliance teams need to leverage scalable compliance software to streamline and automate manual activities. Less time spent on manual compliance tasks frees compliance to focus more on revenue-generating activities and the big picture of risk across the organization.
Automate and scale your compliance program. Request a demo of ComplySci today.