When the integrity of a financial institution is called into question, it can have a destabilising effect on the whole market. Compliance is integral to maintaining that integrity, protecting the firm and its customers as well as the market as a whole.
Financial compliance can mitigate the risks against personal finances – such as pensions, retirement funds, and houses and can even decrease the size of global recessions.
Worldwide, there are several regulators of financial compliance, including The Federal Reserve in the USA and the EU Financial Regulation.
From a financial services firm’s point of view, it is also just good business. One minor slip-up could end up costing a company millions in fines, as many banks and other financial institutions have found out to their cost. Other penalties – such as banning payment methods or inviting a forensic examination of all business practices – can also seriously disrupt a business.
Financial services are one of the most rigorously monitored industries in the world. In addition to dealing with the usual publisher compliance guidelines for websites and other online channels, financial services firms must adhere to an increasing number of specific financial publishing regulations. These regulations include, but are not limited to, GDPR, the 4th and 5th Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Directives, and the markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II).
As such, online brokers must safeguard their businesses with the proper publisher and affiliate compliance.
This is relevant at every stage, from recruitment to day-to-day processes. Publisher compliance should be the backbone of any financial services organisation.
Easy mistakes can become extremely costly. Financial regulators take a very dim view of seemingly small offences such as missing T&Cs/disclosures or inaccurate annual percentage rates (APRs). And it’s not just their own websites and social media accounts that financial services companies must consider, you must be just as vigilant with affiliates and partners’ advertising.
There are enough risks inherent in working within the financial vertical, from legal and financial to reputational and operational. Ensuring publisher and affiliate compliance is maintained helps to mitigate some of these risks.
Having clear partnership agreements and compliance guidelines in place, helps to ensure all brand content complies with advertising regulations and upholds a consistent brand identity.
But with ever-changing rules and regulations, how do you stay on top of it without sacrificing go-to-market speed?
That’s where having a clear, repeatable process comes into play. Using systems for affiliate and publisher compliance monitoring which use automated solutions to solve repeat problems like representative examples/claims mechanisms, publishing inaccurate offers or landing pages, and using non-compliant wording.
Using proprietary software and experienced analysts which can efficiently scan and analyse millions of pieces of content – including web pages, ads, emails and videos – every month from all over the world. It can help clients to filter and prioritise results they see, with the ability to use API’s integration where you can review the results. So all compliance decisions are based on supporting evidence.
Using solutions such as these can save companies time, averting risk and avoiding a potentially significant non-compliance fine.
