As employees in the financial sector increasingly work abroad, it's crucial for companies to securely record their mobile conversations.
The FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) requires companies to record all calls and messages, including mobile conversations, concerning transactions, trading stocks and shares, finance agreements, mortgage arrears, and more. This helps protect against market abuse, aggressive sales tactics, and insider trading and helps resolve complaints, resulting in a more stable and transparent industry.
A raft of regulations, including the 2011 FSA Policy, MiFID II (2018), CMC (2019) and many other UK regulatory bodies, including FINRA and internationally with CFTC, SEC and Dodd-Frank, make recording calls essential. Recommendations from the Insurance Ombudsman, The Medical Protection Society and the Law Society strengthen the requirement.
Transparency and security
Vidicode UK offers a range of call recording solutions. For recording mobile phones free or low-cost apps may entice some companies but we strongly discourage their use for several compelling reasons, including;
- Apps can be of dubious origin and, therefore, not secure.
- Apps will not meet regulatory compliance requirements.
- An app might not automatically back up essential recordings.
- Security and encryption costs are extra if such features are available.
- Apps often include advertisements.
- Calls are unlikely to be backed up to secure locations.
Combating bill shock
With international remote working gaining popularity, understanding roaming costs (particularly to Non-EU countries) and finding ways to control them is crucial. Some companies set a strict data usage limit for each employee when they travel and ensure they know the charges for exceeding it.
The risk of heavy charges increases because foreign network carriers are unlikely to inform companies of roaming rates on arrival, and it can take 48 hours or more to notify customers of costs incurred. By this time, the bill could be enormous. In one case, we've heard of a company in the finance sector that was hit with a weekend mobile bill of £5000!
Vidicode’s new eSIM mobile phone recording and billing platform
Vidicode UK has developed an eSIM-based mobile phone call recording solution with a mobile billing platform. An added feature of the billing platform allows clients or our partner resellers to enable or disable data roaming, SMS and voice as and when required.
Resellers can provide tailored roaming plans by analysing the specific requirements of their customers and offer customised roaming plans that align with their needs. This could involve offering competitive bundled packages that include data, voice, and messaging services at discounted rates. By tailoring plans to individual employee travel patterns and usage, resellers can help businesses optimise their roaming costs—much less messy than offering localised SIM cards and a lot more profitable for resellers.
Resellers can assist businesses in implementing cost-control measures to prevent bill shock caused by excessive data usage or unexpected charges. This includes setting up data usage thresholds, alerts, and limits to ensure employees stay within their allocated quotas. Resellers can also provide real-time monitoring tools and reporting systems to help businesses track and manage their roaming expenses effectively.
Compatible, compliant and comprehensive
Our eSIM-based mobile recording solution is ideal as it fits all phone types and operating systems. It can be integrated with traditional IP, 3CX, or Microsoft Teams deployments, making it the perfect one-stop recording solution for resellers. Search and replay of calls is easy as it utilises Vidicode's flagship call recording system, Apresa, which we will elaborate on in a future article.
Specifically, but not exclusively aimed at FCA-regulated companies, the mobile phone recording solution is secure and includes the following:
- Uses the phone's native dialler
- Automatic recording of all calls made and received
- Captures both SMS and voice calls
- No requirement to change the existing mobile phone number
- Uses the Vidicode UK Mobile eSIM with competitive call rates
- It avoids installing insecure Applications (Apps) of unknown origin
- Lower set-up charges than other network-based mobile recording options
Find out more about Vidicode UKs call recording solutions here.