04/10/2011
By Scott Thompson
The financial sector is ill-prepared for the FSA regulation making compulsory the recording of mobile calls.
The regulation comes into effect on 14 November and requires the recording and storing of all traders’ mobile phone conversations. Orange recently commissioned independent research house, Vanson Bourne, to carry out a study which found that senior IT decision-makers at just 16 per cent of UK-based financial services organisations had unprompted awareness. Thirty eight per cent were aware some regulation regarding mobile calls was being introduced at some point, whilst 30 per cent did not know there was any upcoming FSA regulation at all.
“The good news is it’s not too late. The bad news is, it soon will be, and those companies for whom mobile call recording is about to become compulsory need to get compliant – and quickly,” says Max Taylor, corporate marketing director, Orange.
“According to the FSA Conduct of Business Sourcebook – the bible for anyone involved in compliance in the financial sector – employers are responsible for taking all possible reasonable steps to record relevant mobile phone conversations in order to comply. Businesses are already recording and storing their landline calls, it’s just a matter of getting organised in the days leading up to 14 November. There are software solutions out there which can be up and running in just a few working days, designed specifically to help businesses meet these new regulations, and being compliant needn’t require high levels of capital expenditure."
