Advisor Compliance

Financial Advisors are accustomed to being regulated. All public communications, regardless of the medium, must adhere to the regulatory guidelines.
New media and electronic communication such as social media and blogging are not much different than any form of public communication. There are a number of best practices that financial advisors can adhere to in order to stay compliant with their online marketing and communication efforts:

Blogging:

1)Neither the SEC or FINRA has specific regulations regarding blogging, but you should always be aware of the applicable rules surrounding electronic communications and advertising. Blog posts and articles should be pre-approved if you are affiliated with a Broker/Dealer. We also recommend that you archive your RSS feed for your blog for an added layer of protection!

2)If you are planning to provide investment and financial planning commentary, make sure to stick with general discussions on your investment philosophy. Do not make specific recommendations or guarantees. Remember, it is just as if you were typing an email, writing a letter, or speaking in public. You should always think carefully about what you put in writing.

3)If you allow commenting on your blog, you should monitor those comments carefully and delete any that are inappropriate or misleading.

4)Providing a “disclosure” or “disclaimer” page on your blog describing your views and the views of those who comment on your blog is a recommended practice.  In addition, you should provide a statement about the states that you are licensed to conduct business in.

5)Always give credit for your information sources, whether it be articles, concepts, quotes, images, slides, or videos!

Social Networking Sites:

1)Client testimonials are not allowed on your social media profile sites. For example, you cannot display client testimonials on Linked In or Facebook for example.

2)Your profile pages should be pre-approved if you are affiliated with a Broker/Dealer, and new approvals are needed any time you update your static profiles.

3)Social media activity is considered to be “interactive” and therefore does not require pre-approval (unless your firm requires it), but should be archived and reviewed regularly.  It is imperative to archive all of your social media activity and there are several firms that provide inexpensive tools that will do this for you.

Both Arkovi and Socialware provide affordable solutions for individual financial advisors and firms

4)Your email communications within any social networking sites should also be archived but it is best to reply only with information on where to contact you directly (i.e. your firm email address)

5)When updating your status on social networking sites, never make specific recommendations or guarantees.  Be prudent about any links, images or videos that you share which could be construed as a recommendation or endorsement of products and services.

Be sure to download and review these detailed guides offered by Socialware, a leader in the industry for social media monitoring tools.

FINRA-Companion-Guide-to-Social-Network-Compliance

Guide-To-LinkedIn-Social-Networking-Compliance

Guide-To-Facebook-Social-Networking-Compliance

Guide-To-Twitter-Social-Networking-Compliance

Arkovi is another leading provider for social media archiving, compliance & market intelligence for financial advisors.

Additional resources from across the web:

The Good News/Bad News of FINRA’s Social Media Guidelines

“Advisor Tweets” Compliance Archive of Posts – Pat Allen

FINRA/SEC Compliance Guide for Bloggers – Susan Weiner

Summary of Social Media Compliance and Supervision Solutions – Adam Verchinski

“FP Pad” Archive of Compliance-Related Posts – Bill Winterberg

Fact-Right-Social-Media-Compliance-Overview

With the WIRED ADVISOR™ financial advisor blogging and social media solution, you will learn how to build your online brand while adopting best practices for navigating the regulatory environment!

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