The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has published rules that will require mobile phone conversations to be recorded by certain regulated financial organisations. It says this will provide an extra source of evidence that can be used to help defend against market abuse.
Last year the FSA implemented new rules that required investment firms to record all relevant voice calls and electronic communications (email, fax and instant messaging) and keep the records for six months. However, mobile phone calls were excluded from these rules because the technology wasn't widely available. Earlier this year the FSA published a consultation paper that proposed removing the exemption – and that decision has now been confirmed.
From 14th November next year, mobile phone conversations that involve taking orders from clients or making certain financial dealings will need to be recorded by the firm involved. In addition, these firms will need to take 'reasonable steps' to ensure employees don't conduct business on private mobiles.
A number of UK mobile network operators have recently introduced recording services for financial clients. For example, Vodafone announced 'Vodafone Mobile Recording' in April; it's a solution that routes all voice calls through the company’s existing in-house voice recording platforms and also records all text messages.
[FSA policy statement]