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The client: A brokerage firm built around accessible financial advice
The brokerage firm's clients expected to reach their advisors during trading hours and after markets closed. In most cases, conversations ranged from questions about portfolio changes to trade confirmations and retirement planning.
Advisors maintained those relationships through calls and texts, responding from their cellphones between appointments and outside the office.
As the business expanded, management wanted the firm’s communication records to reflect those exchanges.
A client discussion could begin with a call and continue through several text messages, so the firm needed both parts available when reviewing an advisor’s recommendations or a client’s instructions.
The management also wanted to introduce firm-managed mobile communication using advisors’ existing phones, instead of purchasing and administering a separate device for each advisor.
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5. Your firm’s move away from off-channel texting starts with iPlum
The challenge: missing client conversations
The brokerage employed 25 advisors.
An internal review found that more than 70% of daily client communication took place outside monitored systems. It also found that over 88% of message logs were incomplete or missing.
Those findings exposed the following problems with supervision and record retention.
Reviewers could not follow a complete client discussion
Advisors used personal numbers to discuss trades, portfolio changes, and other client questions. However, the firm did not automatically record those calls or archive the accompanying texts.
A reviewer could find a written reference to a client instruction but lack the conversation that explained it. They then had to contact the advisor and request any remaining information on their phone.
Notes and email summaries left details unanswered
Advisors sometimes wrote notes or emailed summaries after speaking with clients. Those accounts described what the advisor remembered, but they did not preserve the original conversation.
Compliance officers could not check the exact wording of an instruction, the questions that preceded it, or the advisor’s response. Thus, most summaries left important details unavailable when the firm needed to review a conversation.
Preparing records depended on individual advisors
When compliance officers requested correspondence, advisors had to locate messages and explain which calls related to them.
Incomplete message histories made it difficult to determine whether the material represented the full discussion. Plus, compliance officers had to follow up on missing information before assessing the communication itself.
The cost of additional devices delayed an upgrade
The firm also had to consider the expense of issuing business phones, arranging carrier contracts, and administering another set of devices.
Budget constraints had delayed its communication upgrade. Management needed a system that recorded and retained business conversations on the smartphones that advisors already used, without straining their budgets.
The solution: record advisor calls and archive text messages
The brokerage got the iPlum financial compliance solution so its communication records could follow a client discussion from a phone call to subsequent text messages.
It assigned business lines to its 25 advisors and configured recording, archiving, and account access accordingly.
With iPlum, the firm could now:
Record both sides of the phone conversation
The firm enabled automatic call recording for incoming and outgoing calls through advisors’ iPlum numbers and activated a recording announcement as part of its notification procedures.
Now, compliance officers could listen to what the client requested and how the advisor responded. The setup allowed advisors to write call summaries that could provide context, and more importantly, preserve the discussion in audio format.
Archive text exchanges alongside recorded calls
The brokerage opted for iPlum’s text and call recording archiving, getting up to 10 years of retention. Incoming messages and advisors’ replies via iPlum were automatically entered into the text archive.
When a discussion continued by text, reviewers could examine those messages alongside the related call. They could also check whether a later reply confirmed, questioned, or changed an instruction given during the conversation.
Apply security requirements to advisor accounts
iPlum’s organization-wide password policies allowed administrators to require password complexity, two-factor authentication, and an app passcode.
These settings addressed access to client information on personally owned devices. Administrators could set account requirements for all advisors, while the app passcode required verification before opening professional conversations.
Offer a calling option for locations with weak mobile data
With dual-mode calling, advisors could place iPlum calls over their carrier’s voice network or over the internet.
If mobile data was unreliable, they could select voice-network calling through iPlum. The recipient would still see the advisor’s business number. The feature gave advisors another option for connecting when making business calls away from the office.
Introduce business lines on the advisors' existing smartphones
Using iPlum’s 2nd mobile line, advisors were able to add business calling and texting to their existing smartphones.
The rollout focused on configuring accounts and installing the app rather than purchasing another set of phones. Advisors shared their business numbers with clients and used those lines for the brokerage's required record-and-retain conversations.
The firm also accessed the following features that made it easier to achieve compliance:
- Multi-user account management to manage advisor permissions and give authorized compliance officers access to business records.
- Call and usage logs to check communication activity during a selected review period.
- Account locking to revoke access when an advisor left the firm.
- Line reassignment to transfer a business number to another advisor.
- Web session timeouts to end inactive portal sessions.
- Notification privacy settings to hide client information in call and message alerts.
The results: complete mobile call recording and text compliance
The brokerage reported improvements in record availability, compliance reviews, and operating costs after adopting iPlum as follows:
- 100% traceability of recorded calls and archived texts through advisors’ iPlum numbers.
- 40% lower implementation costs during the first quarter.
- Advisor–client exchanges retrieved within seconds through the portal.
- Less time spent preparing audit files, with call and text histories available for review.
- Improved advisor productivity.
- Fewer administrative bottlenecks and improved client trust, as reported by management.
With iPlum, compliance officers no longer had to assemble their records from scattered notes and partial message histories.
They could review the original calls and texts, while advisors conducted business through dedicated numbers on their existing phones. Management also reported continued cost savings in subsequent quarters.
Build a more accountable brokerage with iPlum
If your compliance officers have to chase advisors for client conversations, it’s time to rethink how your firm records calls and retains texts.
With iPlum, advisors can use business numbers on their existing smartphones. In addition, your firm can record business calls, archive text exchanges, and give authorized reviewers access to those records.
And when a client discussion shifts from a call to a text, your reviewers can review both conversations before requesting further information from the advisor.
Get started with iPlum’s financial compliance solution
