Fintech takes aim at industry's texting-breach plague

Archive Intel, a provider of communications archiving and compliance solutions, has just launched with a new platform aimed at transforming compliance management for financial advisors and chief compliance officers.

The AI-powered tool, designed to streamline data reviewing processes and enhance the user experience, was unveiled Tuesday by the company's leadership team, including CEO Larry Shumbres; chief technology officer Ravi Gupta, whose career includes a collective 25 years at IBM and Ernst & Young; and chief Revenue Officer Shea Werner.

The platform is tailored for a range of financial entities including registered investment advisors, broker-dealers, insurance companies, asset managers, regulated fintech firms, wirehouses, and banks.

It comes in response to growing frustrations within the industry regarding inadequate surveillance technologies around client texts and messages, which have often fallen short in areas such as identifying false positives and managing complex data exports.

"There have been many industry bystanders shaking their heads at the incessant stories about firms fined for improper client text and SMS archiving," Shumbres said in a statement. “[W]ith our harnessing of AI, Archive Intel will make compliance seamless and efficient – two words it’s never associated with."

The fintech firm says its new platform complies with several regulatory standards such as those set by the SEC, the CFTC, Finra, and various state regulations regarding record keeping.

In recent years, regulators have come down hard on firms that breached those rules by handing down massive fines, including some penalties in the tens of millions. To date, the financial services sector has incurred over $2.5 billion in fines due to the lack of proper archiving of client communications.

Archive Intel's platform enables financial institutions to generate customized reports swiftly, addressing critical gaps in current technologies while also aiming to reduce the significant financial penalties associated with non-compliance.

The service supports a wide array of communication tools, including emails from platforms like Outlook and Gmail, social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as messaging services including Zoom Phone SMS, MyRepChat, Microsoft Teams, and RingCentral. The company plans to expand its capabilities to include more messaging and social media monitoring features.

"We’re offering a proactive solution so this [compliance issue around electronic messages] doesn’t plague the industry any longer,” he said.