Network Like It’s 2010. Be Compliant Like it’s 1934.

Bank Technology News | March, 2010

A new social networking site strives to enable financial advisors, registered reps, investment advisors and insurance advisors to use social media to interact with investors and each other while complying with new FINRA guidance and other record keeping regulations that date to the New Deal.

Called linkedFA, it’s designed to offer the social media and client relationship building benefits found on sites like FaceBook and LinkedIn with a document retention feature that stores all communication between financial professionals and investors relating to business for a minimum of six years as per the Securities Exchange Act 1934 rules. The communications are extractable and reportable at any time.

The site’s internally developed reputation management software separates personal and private information along with access control. Members can create three separate profiles for clients, peers and recruiters. It also enables document sharing in real time, as well as features that allow blogging, resume exchanges and the display of the networks of members.

The investment advisory community has been clamoring for guidance on how to use social media in compliance with regs, and FINRA’s recent “10-6” guidelines on storage and supervision is considered a start, as are sites such as linkedFA.

"There’s a lot of confusion and a lot of hesitancy on behalf of compliance officers,” says Brian Byrne, linkedFA’s CEO. “There’s no doubt that financial advisors want to figure out how to use social media, but compliance has been a challenge.”