Working With Your Agency to Meet Compliance Regulations

Managing regulatory compliance is difficult work for financial institutions, and it isn't getting any easier! According to a new survey from financial services firm Wolters Kluwer, banks are feeling even greater regulatory pressures than they were at the start of 2013. This increased pressure is driven by four distinct factors: the number of new regulations, increased fines, the amount of resources needed to dedicate to compliance and challenges facing institutions' senior leadership in managing risk.

These challenges become even more acute for banks working with an inbound marketing agency. With so much information being exchanged back and forth, how can companies make sure they're compliant with applicable laws?

Ultimately, the trick here is less about reacting to isolated incidents and "putting out fires" and more about proactively putting in place processes so regulatory compliance becomes another business operation. Screen Shot 2014 03 11 at 11.20.33 AM

The first step is, not surprisingly, to understand what laws and regulations apply to the relationship with your agency. This step will be a team effort — you'll need to loop in your General Counsel, auditors and possibly sales reps, depending on the type of information that's being shared with your marketing agency.

For example, is sensitive customer information, perhaps in the form of email lists, being shared? If so, you'll also need to loop in IT personnel to make sure you have proper data security.

Next up is to prioritize your risk. As a bank you and your team are naturally attuned to the facets of risk management, so make sure any risks posed by your marketing agency are addressed, particularly around social media data. For example, ask yourself:

What information does the agency have access to that could be compromised?
What is the financial fallout if this information is compromised?
What are the steps we can take to mitigate this risk?
How much will it cost?

Not all risks are equal, so you'll need to be strategic in how you spend money to allocate agency risk.

Once you know what laws apply to your agency relationship and what information is at risk, you can then build in the processes to make sure compliance needs are met. They can include:

Ensuring greater password rigor. Particularly for documents shared with your agency on the cloud.
Archiving social media posts. Even if your marketing agency handles all your social media postings, you, as the client company, are ultimately responsible for its archiving. Many firms are turning to third party solutions for this, as some regulations mandate that data is saved for a predetermined amount of time. The US National Archives provides a helpful document illustrating the "best practices" in social media data archiving.
Pre-approved social media editorial calendars. Approve your agency's social media editorial calendars in advance to make sure planned content is appropriate and can be effectively tracked for compliance purposes, if applicable. It will save time in the long run.
Rolling out a social media monitoring tool. Such tools help banks respond to any inquiries, refute any inaccurate statements, and protect their brand.
Train marketing agency reps in social media compliance. Since regulations vary by industry, your agency reps may not be fully attuned to the specific needs of the financial sector. Training can provide them with the necessary guidance they'll need.

One last thing. For banks looking for a starting point to kick off discussions with their agency, particularly around social media compliance, we'd like to suggest this helpful piece published by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC.) It spells out new guidelines to help organizations understand and manage the potential risks regarding the use of social media.