New LinkedIn program offers compliance with SEC and Finra regs

LinkedIn has launched a compliance program designed to help advisers and financial services firms meet SEC and Finra record-keeping and supervision requirements while using the popular networking website. Announced on Thursday, the LinkedIn Certified Compliance Partners program is designed to help remove the barriers to social media adoption created by Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. rules governing the display and storage of social media content. Certified compliance partners already participating in LinkedIn's new program include Actiance Inc., Erado Message Control Solutions, Global Relay Communications Inc., Hearsay Social Inc., Smarsh Inc. and Socialware.com. According to a statement from Smarsh, under the compliance program, Smarsh can now capture content through a direct connection with LinkedIn application programming interfaces. The APIs enable customers to search and supervise their organization's LinkedIn activity, including company pages, profiles, posts and groups. LinkedIn is the most highly requested electronic messaging channel by employees at financial firms, according to a new survey from Smarsh that will be released next month.