Mobile Voice Recording: A compliant, secure, and flexible solution
Mobile Recording: A Compliant, Secure, and Flexible Solution
The European MiFID II directive on financial instruments markets, which reinforces transparency and client protection like never before, is set to cause major disruptions across the entire financial sector. Among other obligations, the new directive requires financial institutions to retain records of mobile communications with their clients.
MiFID II, which comes into effect on January 3, goes further than the previous MiFID I regulation. The new directive requires professionals involved in financial services or advisory activities leading to a transaction to record their conversations—including mobile calls—and securely store these records. All communications must be retained, even if they did not result in a transaction.
Furthermore, the scope of covered instruments has been significantly expanded, encompassing nearly all financial products. Consequently, all market participants are affected: retail banks, market operators, asset management companies, and more.
A Specific Challenge
To comply with this aspect of the new directive, financial professionals need a flexible, easy-to-implement mobile communications monitoring and recording platform that can evolve with their needs.
While written communications can be easily archived and indexed, the new obligation to record voice calls requires specialized solutions. Capturing and recording mobile communications alone presents a particular challenge that must be addressed by considering all relevant factors.
Compliance and Usage Management
The two most common uses of mobile phones are voice calls and SMS. In the case of smartphones, the device runs an operating system and can execute various applications, including instant messaging apps like Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, or iMessage. Extremely popular with consumers, these applications also represent potential entry points for shadow IT when used in a professional context. Under MiFID II’s stricter communication controls, the use of these apps must be rigorously managed within the company’s mobile device management policy—covering smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Some mobile communications recording solutions on the market rely on an app installed on the smartphone that runs in the background and cannot be uninstalled. In such solutions, recordings are archived in a cloud infrastructure with uncertain location. In Luxembourg, effective control over cloud services must be ensured by a provider with PSF support status. These solutions therefore do not provide sufficient compliance guarantees for the Luxembourg market.
Additionally, these types of solutions expose companies to compliance risks directly linked to the device itself—which can be stolen, damaged, or lost—or to the mobile phone’s actual access to the data transmission network required for recording communications.
The Mobile Recording Solution: Dual Compliance Guarantee
The communications recording solution developed by Proximus NXT and Tango captures communications directly at the mobile operator level. The Mobile Recording solution works with both modern smartphones and older devices that only support calls and SMS.
Mobile Recording covers both voice calls and SMS. It can also be extended to record fixed-line communications. For effective control of software installed on mobile devices, Proximus NXT offers clients various Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions, enabling them to manage their mobile fleet and restrict or prohibit apps that fall outside their compliance policy.
When coupled with an MDM solution, Mobile Recording provides financial institutions with a dual guarantee: compliant mobile communications recording under MiFID II requirements, and control over applications used on devices in their mobile fleet.
A Flexible and Scalable Solution
Built on a proven Compliance Recording platform, the recording scope can easily be extended to fixed-line telephony via U-touch, Proximus NXT’s cloud-based enterprise communication solution. Additional media, such as VoIP, instant messaging, videoconferencing, web conferencing, and screen sharing, can also be added to the recording suite. This gives clients an integrated solution for capturing, archiving, and consolidating multiple communication channels, helping them meet a significant portion of their MiFID II recording obligations.
Contract Terms Aligned with the Directive
The service contract offered by Proximus NXT is also aligned with the directive, with an initial term of 5 years, matching MiFID II’s retention period. After 2 years, the contract can be terminated without penalty. At the end of the contract, clients have a 3-month period to retrieve recordings before permanent deletion. The solution itself is designed to retain recordings for up to 10 years.
Financial institutions that adopt Mobile Recording to bring their communication infrastructure into MiFID II compliance can significantly reduce legal and operational risks, improve customer service, and strengthen their competitive position.
Benefits
Mobile Recording offers everything financial institutions seek in a recording platform:
- Network-level interception to minimize fraud risks
- Recording and storage of all mobile calls and SMS
- Extendable to fixed-line and other media recordings
- Direct access to recordings for easy search and playback
- Dedicated environment and unique encryption key per client for enhanced security
- Available on-site, in the cloud, or in hybrid mode for flexibility
Choose the Deployment Mode That Suits You
Mobile Recording in the Cloud
The Mobile Recording solution allows all calls to be stored in Proximus NXT’s secure cloud environment. Access to recordings is automatically controlled, encrypted, and sealed to ensure legal admissibility and evidentiary value.
Cloud Recording with On-Site Archiving
Mobile Recording also allows archiving of all recordings within your enterprise storage infrastructure transparently. Media capture and solution configuration remain hosted by Proximus NXT.
On-Site Recording
Proximus NXT also offers full on-site installation. In this setup, the solution is managed and operated by Proximus NXT but relies on your hosting capabilities.
