More On Legal & Compliance
from The Advisor's Professional Library- Dealings With Qualified Clients and Accredited Investors Depending upon an RIAs business model and investment strategies, it may be important to identify “qualified clients” and “accredited investors.” The Dodd-Frank Act authorized the SEC to change which clients are defined by those terms.
- Preventing and Dealing with Client Complaints Although the SEC has not provided specific guidance on how client complaints should be handled, a firm’s policies and procedures should provide clear direction how to do so, as neglecting complaints can exacerbate a bad situation.
In yet another indication that compliance walls to social media usage on the part of advisors are coming down, electronic compliance and archiving firm Erado announced Tuesday that it signed a multi-year agreement to provide social media compliance services to Investacorp Inc., an independent broker-dealer subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc.
With the implementation of Erado's social media services, Investacorp will allow its advisors access to interactive social network sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter and to communicate with clients and engage in business development programs.
“We're looking forward to working with Investacorp as our newest exclusive social media compliance customer,” Craig Brauff, CEO of Erado, said in a statement. “We are just now starting to see the financial services industry begin to use social networking sites. Once you decide to move into social media, you need to get compliance involved, and compliance concerns are real.”
As Brauff notes, FINRA's regulatory notice 11-39 requires diligent capture, record keeping and supervision of social media content. It lays out specific guidelines for practices, and outlines the need to capture social media content from mobile and other devices.
“At the end of the day, Erado's purpose is to help our customers define, deploy, and defend their social media policies, Brauff added. “Erado’s technology will make it substantially easier for advisors to fully utilize the power of social media to connect with both existing and potential clients, while staying in compliance with FINRA requirements,” said Patrick Farrell, president and CEO of Investacorp.
