at Financial Technnology Year
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Features in Electronic Communications Surveillance
for Compliance
Tools that monitor email, chat, and voice communications for potential compliance violations or inappropriate content.
We ask vendors to mark their product against our feature list. It is not available for all products and in some cases we have derived data from publicly available sources. The list of features follows. Vendors can add a further 10 key features of their own.
Alerting and Workflow
How the system manages alerts, investigations, and incident resolution processes.
- Alert Prioritization
- System assigns levels (e.g., high/medium/low) to alerts.
- Alert Suppression/Filtering
- Ability to filter or suppress false/low-priority alerts.
- Audit Trail
- Full logging of actions and changes for regulatory evidence.
- Case Management Integration
- Enables creation and tracking of cases linked to alerts.
- Customizable Workflow
- Supports tailoring of review/investigation workflow steps.
- Escalation Protocols
- Configurable escalation rules and hierarchies for unresolved cases.
- Notifications & Reminders
- Automated email or in-app reminders for outstanding cases.
- Real-time Alerting
- Immediate flagging and notification of detected risks or violations.
- Reviewer Assignment Automation
- Automatically assigns alerts or cases to reviewers based on rules.
- Reviewer Collaboration Tools
- Enables teams to work together on case investigations.
- SLA Management
- Monitors and enforces service-level agreement timelines for investigations.
Communication Channel Coverage
Ensures surveillance tools monitor all relevant forms of electronic communications.
- Application Support
- Number of distinct communication applications supported for monitoring.
- Attachment Analysis
- Analyzes file attachments for potential violations.
- Email Monitoring
- Ability to capture and analyze email correspondence for compliance risks.
- Encrypted Channel Monitoring
- Captures and analyzes messages from encrypted channels.
- Historic Data Import
- Supports ingestion of historic communication data for analysis.
- Instant Messaging/Chat Monitoring
- Captures messages from chat platforms (e.g., Bloomberg, Teams, Slack) for surveillance.
- Mobile Device Coverage
- Ability to monitor communications across mobile devices.
- Multilingual Coverage
- Ability to monitor and analyze communications in multiple languages.
- Real-time Monitoring Capability
- Enables live or near-real-time capture and analysis of communication data.
- Social Media Surveillance
- Captures relevant external and internal social media posts.
- Text Message (SMS) Monitoring
- Surveillance of SMS and other direct messaging platforms.
- Voice Surveillance
- Monitors recorded voice calls for keywords or risk indicators.
Cost Transparency and Commercials
Total cost of ownership, predictability, and flexibility in pricing models.
- Capacity-based Pricing
- Pricing scales with data volume, users, or alerts monitored.
- Contract Duration Flexibility
- Variety of contract lengths available without penalties.
- Discounts for Multi-year Commitments
- Offers reduced rates for longer agreements.
- Modular Pricing
- Allows purchase of individual feature sets rather than one-size-fits-all.
- Predictable Annual Increases
- Stated percentage or cap on annual rate increases.
- Support Included in Base Price
- Customer support costs are included in base contract.
- Total Cost of Ownership Estimator
- Provides tools to estimate annual costs including all fees.
- Transparent Billing
- Billing statements break down all charges by feature/use.
- Trial or Pilot Options
- Offers low-risk pilots or trials before purchase.
- Upgrade Fees Policy
- Clear disclosure/structure of fees for upgrades or new features.
Data Management and Integration
Capabilities supporting ingestion, storage, retrieval, and integration with other systems.
- APIs for Integration
- Availability of APIs to integrate with other surveillance, archiving, or analytics platforms.
- Custom Data Connectors
- Enables creation of connectors for proprietary sources.
- Data De-duplication
- Removes duplicate messages to conserve storage and reduce noise.
- Data Ingestion Speed
- Rate at which new communication records can be ingested and indexed.
- Database Support
- Supports multiple types of databases (SQL, NoSQL, cloud-based, etc.).
- Export Options
- Support for exporting surveillance data in multiple formats (PDF, CSV, etc).
- Metadata Enrichment
- Adds useful metadata (e.g. sender, recipient, channel, time) for search and analytics.
- SIEM Integration
- Connects to Security Information and Event Management systems.
- Search Performance
- Time to retrieve results for complex queries over stored communications.
- Storage Scalability
- Ability to handle growing volumes of communications data.
- Third-party Data Source Integration
- Connects and correlates data from external vendors or sources.
Deployment and Scalability
Capabilities related to how the platform is deployed, scaled and maintained.
- Cloud Deployment
- Supports hosting in public or private cloud environments.
- Concurrent Process Handling
- Maximum number of concurrent data ingestion, processing or analytics tasks.
- Deployment Time
- Typical time to deploy solution from contract signing.
- Elastic Scalability
- Capacity to scale up/down seamlessly with changes in data volume or users.
- High Availability/Failover
- Built-in redundancy to minimize downtime and data loss.
- Hybrid Deployment
- Supports mixed cloud and on-premises configurations.
- Multi-tenant Support
- Ability to support multiple independent business units or organizations on a single platform.
- On-premises Deployment
- Allows fully onsite installation and management.
- Resource Monitoring
- Continuous monitoring of system resources and health.
- System Uptime SLA
- Guaranteed system availability as specified in SLA.
- Zero Downtime Upgrades
- Perform updates and upgrades without service interruption.
Detection and Analytics
Features supporting the detection of compliance violations and risk using various analytic techniques.
- Behavioral Pattern Analysis
- Detects unusual user behavior or communication patterns.
- Custom Rule Creation
- Allows users to define and adapt detection rules.
- Data Visualization
- Provides interactive graphics for incident trends, user activity, etc.
- False Positive Reduction Rate
- Capability of the system to decrease the rate of false positives.
- Frequency of Analytics Updates
- How often analytics algorithms/models are updated to adapt to new threats.
- Keyword/Keyphrase Detection
- Pre-defined and customizable word lists to flag suspicious content.
- Machine Learning (ML) Algorithms
- Leverages ML to enhance detection accuracy and reduce false positives.
- Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- Uses NLP to detect intent, sentiment, or context in communications.
- Regulatory Lexicon Library
- Library of language and keywords for specific regulations (e.g., FINRA, SEC).
- Risk Scoring
- Assigns risk scores to incidents/messages for prioritization.
- Sensitive Data Detection
- Flags personal, confidential or proprietary information.
Regulatory Compliance Support
Options that ensure adherence to relevant industry standards and regulations.
- Automated Regulatory Reporting
- Creates and exports reports necessary for regulatory audits or filings.
- Breach Notification Support
- Helps organizations notify affected parties of regulatory breaches within mandated timelines.
- Compliance Certifications
- Holds certifications (e.g., SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR) relevant to financial services.
- Configurable Regulatory Frameworks
- Allows mapping and customization for firm-specific compliance programs.
- Legal Hold Management
- Supports the ability to preserve data for future litigation as required.
- Multi-jurisdictional Rules Support
- Addresses regulatory requirements in multiple global jurisdictions.
- Pre-built Compliance Rules
- Comes with out-of-the-box detection rules for major regulatory bodies (FINRA, SEC, FCA, etc).
- Redaction Tools
- Redacts sensitive data in exported or shared communications.
- Retention Period Length
- Maximum length for which data can be retained for compliance.
- Retention Policy Management
- Implements and ensures compliance with data retention/archiving rules.
- Supervisory Review Support
- Tools to monitor adherence to supervisory review processes.
Reporting and Audit
Extensive reporting and robust audit capabilities for compliance and business needs.
- Access Logging
- Tracks all readings and exports of records.
- Alert Disposition Metrics
- Tracks status/outcome of all alerts for performance measurement.
- Comprehensive Audit Logging
- Logs all actions/events for forensic and compliance audits.
- Custom Report Builder
- Allows creation of user-defined reports on all surveillance data.
- Data Extraction for Audits
- Enables data extraction tailored to regulatory or internal audit requests.
- Drill-down Analytics
- Ability to explore details of flagged incidents/cases/reports.
- Export Formats Supported
- Number of different formats available for data export (PDF, CSV, etc).
- Regulatory Reconciliation
- Verifies reporting completeness and accuracy against regulatory requirements.
- Report Delivery Channels
- Multiple ways to send/deliver reports (email, dashboard, API, etc).
- Reviewer Performance Reporting
- Reports on productivity and consistency of review teams.
- Scheduled Reporting
- Supports automated, recurring report generation and delivery.
Security
Ensures that communication data and the surveillance system itself are properly protected.
- Anomaly Detection
- Automated detection of unusual access or usage patterns.
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
- Prevents unauthorized sharing or downloading of sensitive communications.
- Disaster Recovery/Backup Systems
- Ensures protection and recovery of data in case of system failure.
- Encryption At-Rest
- Stored data is encrypted to protect against unauthorized access.
- Encryption In-Transit
- All communications data is encrypted during transmission.
- Granular Permission Controls
- Allows detailed definition of permissions at user or group level.
- IP Whitelisting/Blacklisting
- Restricts or allows system access based on IP addresses.
- Intrusion Detection
- Monitors the system for unauthorized access attempts or suspicious activity.
- Regular Security Audits
- Periodic third-party or internal security assessments performed.
- Security Patch Frequency
- Regular cadence for applying security patches and updates.
- User Activity Monitoring
- Continuously tracks and logs all significant user actions.
User Experience and Access Control
Encompasses usability of the system as well as control over user actions.
- Accessibility Compliance
- Meets accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG, ADA) for users with disabilities.
- Audit Access Reporting
- Logs and reports on user activity and access history.
- Bulk Actions
- Ability to perform actions on multiple records/cases simultaneously.
- Configurable User Roles
- System allows administrators to define custom roles.
- Localization
- User interface available in multiple languages.
- Multi-factor Authentication (MFA)
- Requires multi-factor authentication for access.
- Number of Concurrent Users Supported
- Maximum number of users supported simultaneously without performance degradation.
- Role-based Access Control (RBAC)
- Allows granular assignment of permissions based on role.
- Search Functionality
- Advanced and intuitive search/filtering for investigators.
- Single Sign-On (SSO)
- Supports integration with enterprise SSO solutions.
- User Interface Customization
- Enables customization of UI elements and workflows.
Vendor Support and Maintenance
Quality and efficiency of vendor services that support long-term platform effectiveness.
- 24/7 Customer Support
- Availability of round-the-clock technical assistance.
- Bug Fix Response Time
- Average time to acknowledge and resolve critical bugs.
- Community/Forum Access
- Customers can share best practices and ask questions in a user community.
- Customization Services
- Vendor can develop custom features according to client needs.
- Dedicated Account Manager
- Assignment of an account manager for ongoing relationship support.
- Knowledge Base/Documentation
- Comprehensive online guides and troubleshooting materials.
- Named User Support
- Offers support for specific, named contacts at customer firms.
- Patch/Update Notification
- Alerts users to upcoming or recent system changes.
- Service Level Agreements (SLA)
- Well-defined SLAs for uptime, response, and issue resolution.
- Training/Onboarding Services
- Vendor provides training programs for customer teams.