ACA Group Enhances Surveillance Capabilities for Off-Channel Communications to Navigate Rising Regulatory Scrutiny

New partnership with LeapXpert will help financial firms surveil multiple messaging channels to meet client expectations while ensuring regulatory compliance

ACA Group (ACA), the leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services, has enhanced its ability to enable institutions to thoroughly capture mobile device traffic through a partnership with LeapXpert. The partnership delivers expanded enhancements to archival, workflow, and surveillance features across WhatsApp, iMessage, SMS, WeChat, Telegram, LINE, and Signal. The advanced mobile messaging communications capture capabilities provide compliance professionals with the necessary oversight to avoid fines and penalties tied to global regulations.

ACA announced the partnership with LeapXpert at a time when regulatory bodies are putting increased emphasis on how financial firms are communicating internally, as well as with their clients. Last year, the SEC and CFTC fined Wall Street firms a combined $1.8 billion for failing to prevent employees from communicating on messaging channels that are not monitored for compliance. The FCA, ESMA, and FINRA also have rules in place for financial institutions to capture and oversee all mobile communications to detect potential market abuse like insider trading, unlawful information sharing, or other forms of manipulation.

Furthermore, a recent survey of investment adviser chief compliance officers found electronic communications surveillance is a top priority in recent and current SEC exams. The 2023 Investment Management Compliance Testing Survey also revealed that compliance professionals are conservative when communicating for business purposes. Some 42% of respondents are restricting business email and telephone communications, while only 18% permit texting and LinkedIn communications. These results highlight the importance of staying aware of regulatory enforcement priorities.

LeapXpert’s advanced mobile messaging capture capabilities are now available to global buy- and sell-side firms through ACA’s ComplianceAlpha^® eComms platform. The ComplianceAlpha eComms module includes a policy-based surveillance engine, relationship forensics, and an integrated archive to enable more effective internal investigations. The simple-to-use regulatory technology helps manage critical items of interest, including case management, complete supervision, and archiving of employee communications. It employs machine learning and natural language processing enabling compliance teams to resolve alerts quickly and defensibly utilizing a comprehensive view of potential high-risk activities and behaviors across their organization.

The LeapXpert Communications Platform enables data capture and governance across voice and messaging channels, including WhatsApp, iMessage, SMS, WeChat, Telegram, Signal, and LINE. A native integration with Microsoft Teams allows employees to communicate with clients through their preferred messaging apps – from within Microsoft Teams.

“Amidst growing regulatory scrutiny, ​​the move to a mobile-first or single vendor solution is paramount to satisfying all components necessary to demonstrate that the duty of supervision has been met,” said Annie Morris, Chief Product Officer at ACA Group. “With LeapXpert, a well-known industry leader, we can offer a highly unified solution to many leading financial institutions and enterprises worldwide, precisely where the fractured multi-channel work experience poses a significant regulatory challenge.”

"We are thrilled to join forces with ACA, a leader in surveillance technology," added Avi Pardo, Co-founder & CBO of LeapXpert. "By combining our advanced capabilities into ACA's ComplianceAlpha eComms module, we have successfully addressed the challenges of mobile capture. Together, our integrated platform offers a scalable solution to meet the growing market demand for responsible business communication solutions for enterprises needing large-scale deployments globally. Now, modern communication channels can be used to conduct business while ensuring peace of mind to compliance teams.”

About ACA Group

ACA Group (ACA) is the leading governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) advisor in financial services. For over 20 years, we’ve empowered our clients to reimagine GRC to protect and grow their business. Our global team of 1,250 employees includes former regulators and practitioners with a deep understanding of the regulatory landscape. Our innovative approach integrates advisory, managed services, distribution solutions, and analytics with our ComplianceAlpha^® technology platform. For more information, visit www.acaglobal.com.

About LeapXpert

LeapXpert, the responsible business communication pioneer, provides enterprises peace of mind through compliant and secure communication solutions. The LeapXpert Communications Platform is an enterprise solution that enables employees and clients to communicate through consumer messaging apps and voice channels in a compliant, governed, and secure manner. Founded in 2017, the award-winning company is headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Asia. For more information on LeapXpert, visit www.leapxpert.com.

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