The European Union (EU) issued an update to its Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), which outlines the required compliance policies and procedures for any business with EU subsidiaries or operations in Europe’s investment services sector.

Marianna Shafir, Smarsh corporate counsel and regulatory advisor, offers helpful insight into the changes—which take effect January 2018—in a Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) Risk Intelligence article.

In, Are You Ready for MiFID II, Marianna explains that firms are required to record a range of telephone and electronic communications made with clients over any personal or business device. Electronic communications can include emails, social media posts, instant messages, and text messages. Recordings must be archived and kept available to satisfy requests from EU regulators.

The mandate is intended to protect market integrity. MiFID II—the EU’s first regulatory update to the directive since 2004—will impact multiple facets of the financial services industry, including investment banks, private banks, asset managers, custodial service providers, retail banks, broker-dealers, financial advisers and market infrastructure providers.

Under MiFID II, the minimum period for record retention is five years, but national authorities can extend the period for up to seven years. Firms are required to maintain records in their original format; communications cannot be altered or deleted.

For more information about archiving technology, strategies, and custom solutions that can help you meet these regulatory requirements, visit our MiFID II compliance page or contact a member of the Smarsh team.

As Marianna says, “There’s no time for excuses. It’s MiFID II crunch time!”

Are You Ready for MiFID II? was published in GARP’s Risk Intelligence. Read Marianna’s previous contribution, The Real Compliance Risks of Text Messaging, here.