DESIGNED FOR SMALL FIRMS
AdvisorVault was created with one thing in mind: give small FINRA firms a complete data compliance solution to achieve the electronic records archiving demands of SEC rule 17a-4. By Understanding this unique challenge, AdvisorVault’s is able to provide a consolidated solution to satisfy auditors – including the archiving and supervision of books and records, emails, other critical systems for disaster recovery, as well as the D3P provision; offering total data compliance out of the box.
ADVISORVAULT ELIMINATES AUDIT STRESS
Ultimately, passing audits is the whole reason FINRA firms spend money on data compliance at all. Although small firms are given a great deal of flexibility in this area, they still rely heavily on third party providers to help them, AdvisorVault is the expert in this, particularly helping small FINRA firms with audits, or during an electronic records request.
AdvisorVault includes the tools to ensure regulators are out the door fast:
CHOOSING THE RIGHT 17A-4 DESIGNATED THIRD PARTY REMOTE BACKUP PROVIDER
Small firms rely heavily on their D3P to archive and provide the tools to ensure compliance with SEC rule 17a-4, at the same time they need a provider who understands their unique needs, AdvisorVault is a simple choice.
- SECURE CENTRALIZED WEB INTERFACE to access their entire data archive
- ARCHIVING OF DATA FROM ALL LOCATIONS including servers at head office, desktops/laptops, branch office, mobile devices and data stored in the cloud
- A PAY-AS-YOU-GO MODEL where the price of archiving is based on the amount of data and only increase as more data is added
- LICENSE FREE SOFTWARE that does not charge per computer or user
- RETENTION OF ELECTRONIC RECORDS or 7 years in its original format
- INDEXED & SEARCHABLE ARCHIVE to make finding records quick
- AUTOMATED REPORTS & ALERTS to be access by compliance officers and other key staff
AUTOMATED PROTECTION FOR DATA DISTRIBUTION
Properly retaining data contained in a firm’s books and records is the cornerstone of achieving rule 17a-4. The challenge now, particularly for small firms, is that these records are now spread out on servers at head office, branch locations, on laptops, mobile devices or the cloud. How does a firm out source to a provider who can automate the protection of all this data, so it is transferred to SEC compliant storage and make it centrally available to compliance officers and other key staff for review.
TAKE CONTROL OF MESSAGING COMPLIANCE
The majority of fines handed out these days by FINRA are failure to properly supervise communications. The main reason is firms want to take advantage of new technology; they want to use mobile devices, social medial and cloud based messaging to communicate with partners and customers. Because of this they often lose control of the whole process. Now, a new approach is needed to make sure all these new ways of communicating are kept compliant
ADVANCED SOLUTION OF MESSAGING COMPLIANCE:
The majority of fines handed out these days by FINRA are failure to properly supervise communications. The main reason is firms want to take advantage of new technology; they want to use mobile devices, social medial and cloud based messaging to communicate with partners and customers. Because of this they often lose control of the whole process. Now, a new approach is needed to make sure all these new ways of communicating are kept compliant
WHAT IS ADVISOR VAULT'S CONSOLIDATED DESIGNATED THIRD PARTY (D3P)
AdvisorVault’s Consolidate D3P solution was created to give small FINRA firms a total, yet inexpensive option to achieve SEC rule 17a-4. Firms, especially broker-dealers and registered investment advisors often find themselves forced to use several providers to achieve all the demands of 17a-4; they have to outsource the backup of books and records, the archiving of email and the recovery of critical systems to several third parties. This was complex during audits not to mention expensive. AdvisorVault has changed this.
WHAT IS THE D3P?
For small FINRA firms with limited time and budgets, finding the best partner to assist them with their D3P needs can be a daunting task. They need to choose a provider that can help them achieve these requirements effectively – choosing the wrong D3P can cause unnecessary burden and quickly increase the overall cost of data compliance.
ANSWERING THE BIG QUESTIONS ABOUT THE DESIGNATED THIRD PARTY (D3P)
1. What is the firm’s responsibility in choosing a data compliance partner as their D3P?
It is critical that the firm establish a relationship with a third party that has the ability to provide the SEC (or other securities regulators) with independent access to their retained electronic records and information.
2. What are the third party’s responsibilities?
- Notify the SEC (or other designated securities regulators) in writing of their intention to fulfill the third-party access and download function for the broker-dealer or Registered Investment Advisor.
- Provide securities regulators with the information they need to download electronic records from the firms systems at the regulator’s request.
- Provide securities regulators with access to records and information stored on the broker-dealer’s systems independently of the firm, even if the firm is not cooperating with the regulator.
- Preserve records in a non-rewriteable, non-erasable format or one that prevents their overwriting, erasing, or otherwise altering during its required retention period through the use of integrated hardware and software codes.
- Verify automatically the quality of the backup process and index records preserved on the storage media. The D3P prerequisite is essentially designed to ensure firms electronic records are kept for the required amount of time and can be easily retrieved in the event of an audit or during regular compliance reviews.
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF THE D3P
The majority of fines handed out these days by FINRA are failure to properly supervise communications. The main reason is firms want to take advantage of new technology; they want to use mobile devices, social medial and cloud based messaging to communicate with partners and customers. Because of this they often lose control of the whole process. Now, a new approach is needed to make sure all these new ways of communicating are kept compliant
The Designated Third Party puts extra responsibility on firms and it is designed to ensure an amount of long-term stability is built into their data compliance strategy. By choosing the right D3P, not only do firms have greater confidence during SEC audits, they will also have more chance of gaining long-term customer confidence regarding electronic records retrieval and supervision.
