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In January 2025, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined twelve investment advisers and broker-dealers for recordkeeping violations.
Those firms paid about $63 million in combined penalties.
In fact, the SEC’s off-channel communications initiative has resulted in settlements with dozens of firms since 2021 for similar failures.
Meanwhile, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) disciplinary reports show that firms have incurred heavy fines for failing to record and retain calls.
These stats point to one thing. If you’re in the financial service space, you must ensure proper retention of client calls.
By extension, these numbers make it absolutely important to get a financial compliance line like iPlum.
Failure to which, you risk hefty fines, regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage, and operational disruption.
Table of Contents
1. What is compliance call recording for financial services?
2. When does call recording become a regulatory requirement?
3. Where do most financial firms get call recording wrong?
4. What are the best practices for call recording retention?
5. How to pick the best call recording solution for financial services
6. Why choose iPlum as your financial call recording solution?
What is compliance call recording for financial services?
Compliance call recording refers to the required capture, storage, and oversight of business-related phone calls in regulated financial environments.
When brokers, advisers, or agents speak with clients about accounts, trades, or advice, regulators treat those calls as official records.
That said, recording is not the only requirement.
Firms must also retain recordings for defined periods and protect them from deletion or alteration.
More importantly, compliance recording exists to support supervision and audits.
Regulators expect firms to demonstrate control over how calls are captured, stored, and reviewed.
At a minimum, compliant call recording must ensure:
- Automatic capture of inbound and outbound calls
- Secure, tamper-resistant storage
- Long-term retention aligned with regulations
- Supervisor access for review and audits
When done properly, compliance call recording ensures you can retain client conversations as exam-ready records.
When does call recording become a regulatory requirement?
Call recording becomes a requirement the moment a conversation crosses into regulated business activity.
Once a call involves client instructions, investment discussions, account changes, or transaction-related details, regulators expect a record to exist. Even short or follow-up calls can trigger obligations.
As communication shifts to mobile devices, this threshold arises more often than firms expect.
Advisors may not plan to give advice, yet conversations naturally move in that direction. Regulators assess what was discussed, not what was intended.
In practice, call recording becomes mandatory when calls involve:
- Investment recommendations or guidance
- Trade execution or confirmation
- Account changes or approvals
- Client complaints or dispute discussions
Therefore, firms cannot rely on judgment calls made after the fact. They must apply controls consistently and automatically.
Otherwise, inconsistencies become apparent. And when they do, firms struggle to explain why some calls were recorded while others were not.
Where do most financial firms get call recording wrong?
Most firms don’t fail because they ignore compliance.
Instead, they fail because their call recording setup breaks down in everyday use. The small gaps compound over time and eventually attract regulators' attention.
Below are the most common trouble spots.
Relying on manual recording habits
A significant number of firms expect the advisors to start or stop recordings manually.
However, that strategy will almost always lead to violation. First, advisors forget to start recording. On top of that, clients can call anytime. As a result, firms end up with partial or missing records.
Mixing personal and business calls
Firms allow advisors to use personal phones for client calls, which creates significant blind spots.
Using personal devices limits oversight and, more importantly, doesn't provide a way to separate business and private conversations. In the end, firms lose control over what gets recorded and retained.
Assuming call logs equal compliance
Some firms assume they can rely on phone carrier logs or phone backups to prove that calls occurred.
However, those records only log numbers, dates, and times. They never capture the actual conversation. Regulators expect you to retain what was said, not just when a call happened.
Ignoring supervision and retrieval
Recording calls alone is not enough to satisfy regulators.
Firms must actively review recordings and retrieve them quickly when requested. If compliance teams struggle to locate files during exams, regulators start questioning the entire system.
What are the best practices for call recording retention?
Call recording best practices for financial services revolve around duration, integrity, access, and governance.
When your firm applies consistent retention discipline, it reduces audit risk, avoids violations, and maintains defensible records that can withstand regulatory scrutiny.
Below are some best practises your firm should abide by:
Set retention periods based on regulatory rules
You should set call recording retention periods based on regulatory requirements, not on internal preferences.
Regulators require broker-dealers to retain communications for at least 6 years. Therefore, firms must align call recordings with the longest applicable requirement.
Standardized retention schedules prevent accidental deletion and simplify audits by ensuring teams retrieve the same records consistently across advisors, offices, and timeframes.
Keep recordings readily accessible
You should keep call recordings readily accessible during the early years of the retention period.
Regulators expect quick access during exams. Therefore, your system must allow for immediate retrieval without IT intervention.
In addition, accessible storage reduces delays, limits examiner follow-up, and signals operational control. Slow access, on the contrary, raises questions about system reliability and overall compliance maturity.
Use tamper-resistant storage
You should store call recordings in tamper-resistant systems that prevent edits or deletion.
Regulators will test your record integrity under pressure. Immutable storage protects credibility during exams and disputes.
In addition, access controls and audit logs must track viewing and exports. Together, these measures demonstrate an intent to preserve evidence rather than manipulate outcomes when external scrutiny increases.
Maintain searchable, audit-ready systems
You should organize call recordings in searchable systems designed for audits.
Regulators request specific conversations, not bulk files. Therefore, your call recordings must be searchable by date, advisor, and client.
Robust indexing speeds up responses and reduces exam friction. Poor search capabilities, on the other hand, drag reviews and raise suspicion. It also expands regulatory inquiry unnecessarily during examinations and enforcement actions in subsequent cycles.
Document and enforce retention policies
You should clearly document your call recording retention policies and enforce them consistently.
Written policies define retention length, storage methods, and access rights. Besides, documentation shows governance during exams. Meanwhile, policies guide employees and reduce ad hoc decisions.
When regulators review procedures, documented practices point to consistent control, accountability, and preparedness across the organization at all times.
How to pick the best call recording solution for financial services
There are several call recording phone solutions for financial services.
However, most of them don’t meet the strict FINRA and SEC requirements. So, when choosing a solution, pick one that offers the following capabilities.
Therefore, when choosing a solution, select one built for audits, supervision, and long-term compliance:
- Automatic comprehensive capture: pick a solution that records every inbound and outbound business call automatically.
- Tamper-resistant storage: choose a system that stores recordings in a non-editable format.
- Long-term retention controls: opt for a platform that enforces multi-year retention aligned with financial regulations.
- Audit-ready search and retrieval: select a solution that lets compliance teams find calls by advisor, client, or date within seconds.
- Supervisor access and oversight: pick tools that give compliance teams direct access to recordings.
- Mobile and BYOD coverage: prioritize solutions that capture calls on mobile phones. Financial work happens on the go, and gaps often start there.
The more a solution can help you meet compliance requirements without human intervention, the better.
Why choose iPlum as your financial call recording solution?
iPlum financial compliance line boasts robust compliance-first capabilities to keep you in good standing with FINRA and SEC. Here’s what you get with iPlum:
- Dedicated business line on mobile: iPlum gives advisors a separate, virtual business number on their existing phones. That way, they can isolate business and personal calls.
- Automatic, bidirectional call recording: iPlum records inbound and outbound business calls automatically. You don’t have to start or stop recordings, which eliminates missed captures tied to human error.
- WORM-compliant storage: iPlum stores call recording in a non-rewriteable, non-erasable format. Consequently, records retain integrity under SEC Rule 17a-4 and FINRA Rule 4511.
- Built-in consent announcements: iPlum plays automated recording disclosures at call start. The features reduce wiretapping risk and align with dual-party consent laws.
- Central compliance console: Compliance officers manage users, policies, and audit logs from one dashboard. Retrieval stays fast during exams.
In addition to compliance features for financial services, iPlum also provides HD calling, secure texting, voicemail transcription, and auto attendants.
It also offers business hours, number porting, and a collection of 50+ other features.
Next steps
If you’re in the finance sector, mobile call recording compliance doesn’t have to slow you down.
With iPlum, financial compliance line, firms can record calls automatically, retain them securely, and review them centrally, without changing how advisors work.
Click the link below to learn how iPlum supports SEC and FINRA requirements on mobile devices.
While at it, see whether its Enterprise solution fits your firm’s compliance and operational needs.
