MiFID II – Why you need to act now!
The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II, known as MiFID II, and the accompanying Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) took effect, with a zero-tolerance policy, on January 3, 2018.
Any business not meeting the requirements now faces punishment in the form of heavy fines, so it’s essential that you’ve acted, rather than taken a ‘head in the sand’ approach.
MiFID was originally introduced in the UK from November 2007 to provide the framework of legislation to increase transparency across the EU’s financial markets and to standardise regulatory disclosures on over the counter transactions.
However, following the financial crisis in 2008, draft MiFID II regulations were drawn up to build and expand on the original legilsation. As well as including further financial assets, one of the biggest changes that will be brought in by MiFID II is the requirement to record all fixed and mobile calls, as well as other electronic communications, that are intended to bring about a transaction.
Record and store
Furthermore, under the new rules, all communications that are intended to lead to a transaction will need to be securely stored for 5 years.
Notably, it is no longer acceptable for firms to state that employee mobiles are not used for work calls, regardless of whether the device is personal or supplied by the company, which has clear implications for companies operating BYOD policies.
MiFID II also contains a requirement that company management must have effective control over policies related to call recording. This means that organisations not only need to have monitoring programmes in place, but also systems that alert administrators if, for some reason, a call has not been recorded, and to log those discrepancies.
As a result, the new legislation has had a huge impact on financial services firms. It also means that many legacy systems and platforms, implemented to meet the original MiFID rules, are likely to be unfit for purpose, or require a substantial upgrade.
Undoubtedly, this throws up challenges for smaller and medium-sized financial firms. But there is a simple solution.
The Touch solution
Touch Call Recording and Storage is an all-in-one, multi-channel, cloud-hosted service that can record all fixed and mobile calls, create call logs and
alerts, enables whitelists, and provides near-limitless storage of calls and electronic communications.
Furthermore, our enterprise solution, PBX Recorder can also be integrated with hosted and on-premise PBX technologies, including Cisco, Mitel, Avaya, Unify, Alcatel-Lucent, and many others. Touch also integrates with key business messaging and chat-based solutions, such as Skype for Business (hosted and on-premise), Bloomberg and Reuters.
Our service has been used in the UK and Norway by many of our customers to record fixed and mobile calls for many years, and so is proven to meet MiFID II rules.
It also meets the storage and security requirements of the upcoming rules. All recorded calls and conversations are encrypted using a two-stage model that complies with ETSI TR 102 661. Data and files are then replicated to a second Disaster Recovery Site.
Importantly, Touch Recording and Storage can create an alert if a call was not recorded for any reason, or if the call duration does not match the length of the call recording. All calls and logs can be accessed immediately through our easy-to-use, intuitive web interface that offers advanced search and retrieval capabilities.
The introduction of MiFID II has significant implications, and organisations that have not prepared are now potentially subject to heavy fines.
Touch offers an easy-to-use, cost-effective, all-in-one service for recording all calls and data communications, with simple access and, importantly, secure, high-capacity storage and retrieval. Put simply, it meets all MiFID II requirements, without the need for large, costly and disruptive system replacements or upgrades.
So get in touch with us now, and find out how we can help. Don’t bury your head in the sand!
Why MiFID II will require a multi-channel approach
Today, businesses are likely to use multiple channels for communicating with each other, and with customers, partners and clients. Employees rely on a multitude of communications channels, including fixed and mobile phones, laptops and devices that support not only voice calls, but also email, SMS, VoIP and enterprise-based chat solutions, such as Skype for Business, in order to perform their daily tasks efficiently and smartly.
