Why VoIP Call Recording is Essential for the Finance Industry

The financial industry has been subject to regulatory control for decades. But the number and scope of legislative and regulatory measures have been steadily increasing over the last few years. Banks and financial institutions are finding themselves under heavy scrutiny in various fields from customer protection acts to comprehensive reporting standards.

Historically financial companies have been required by law to record certain calls for legal, compliance and risk management purposes. Before the introduction of modern technologies like the cloud and mobile, recording calls was a simpler matter. Employees came to work at the office and used landlines for all incoming and outgoing calls. It wasn’t difficult to deploy a solution for recording calls.

Today the situation is drastically different. Business organizations have switched over to VoIP solutions for their voice communication needs. Cloud based software and services have transformed the way employees work as well. A significant proportion of the workforce now works remotely from their homes or on the road. The BYOD culture also means that call recording software needs to be able to differentiate between personal and business calls. After all, a company can get into legal trouble if they record personal calls of the staff.

The modern call recording solution must be flexible enough to accommodate such different scenarios. Some departments may need call recording for all their calls while other teams need on demand call recording. It should be able to work with your existing VoIP solution and able to handle mobile devices. Many reputable vendors offer call recording features as part of their service. Check with your current vendor if they do so and see if it meets your needs before looking for another solution.

Beside the difficulties of call recording in today’s mobile and ever changing environment, the important question is why does the financial industry in particular need VoIP call recording? What purpose does it serve?

Regulatory Compliance and Legislative Requirements

The financial services industry is governed by various federal and state legislation. Additional there are various regulatory and industry organizations that impose certain regulations regarding record keeping, discovery, risk management, adequate controls etc. As part of these initiatives, most companies are required to keep records of calls for a certain time period. You are required to retain some calls for as few as 6 months while you should keep others for up to 7 years.

Just like emails, voice calls may also be required as evidence in legal actions, investigative proceedings or lawsuits. Financial institutions must be able to store voice calls for the required time as well as be able to access them readily when needed. Whether your company is using a VoIP service or SIP trunking, you must deploy an appropriate solution for recording calls.

Risk Management

Financial companies like banks often have a comprehensive risk management program. Such a program will assess the various risks and threats that the company faces and then implement counter measures to manage the risks. A large number of tasks and transactions take place through phone calls everyday in a business. This inevitably brings some risks to the table. Such risks include:

• Disputes may arise regarding orders, product fulfillment, customer satisfaction etc.
• The business may face a lawsuit for a number of reasons including contracts, patent or copyright infringement, supplier or distributor disputes and so on
• The company can also face risks because of poor treatment of employees, actions done by a worker on behalf of the business etc.
• Investigations by the government or other regulatory bodies

When such issues arise, evidence is often needed in the form of the original voice calls and conversation. Recording such calls permits a business to defend itself against external threats. Recording your voice calls is like having a paper trail for written communication. It protects the company against many risk factors.

Data Backup and Recordkeeping

Voice calls are another form of business data that is vital to a business. Just as you have backups of your emails, documents, contracts and employee data, you should have a copy of voice calls too. Natural or man made disasters alike may call for the ability to look through older calls for valuable information.

Large scale emergencies are not the only situation where the financial institution needs call recording. Even many daily tasks might need call recording and retrieval. Nowadays you can apply for credit cards, mortgages and other loans with just a single phone call. You should record such transactions so employees don’t have to rely on memory for doing their jobs. It can even be something as simple as wanting to confirm details of the conversation with the customer after the call is complete.

As you can see, VoIP call recording is not just a useful feature for a bank or other financial company. It is a necessity for complying with regulation, provides protection against risks and can be a valuable asset for productivity.