Why Email Compliance is Critical For Financial Firms’ Cybersecurity

In the face of increasing regulatory frameworks and evolving security threats, it’s no surprise that compliance is becoming more critical universally. Perhaps no other industry faces more stringent and complex regulatory requirements than financial services firms. 

Mimecast recently partnered with IDG Research to survey compliance professionals from retail banking, insurance, investment firms and other financial services sectors on all aspects of the compliance and the challenges they face. It turns out that while their businesses are vastly different, they face similar obstacles, including inefficiency, legacy infrastructure, and missing collaboration.

Efficiency in Email and Regulatory Compliance Is More Important Than Cost

Making compliance processes more efficient remains a primary task for IT and compliance teams. Feature-rich cloud archiving and data protection solutions that retain the focus on compliance review are a significant part of evolving compliance strategies.

Interestingly, the Mimecast-IDG survey found that the impetus for adoption of these solutions is not driven by fear of fines and sanctions, but by helping compliance teams do their jobs more efficiently. A staggering 89% of respondents reported an increase in the time it takes compliance teams to maintain audit readiness in the last two years. The good news is that budgets are increasing as well – 88% reported an increase in compliance budget, making cost control a secondary priority for firms who just want to streamline productivity. 

More control with fewer resources – it’s easier said than done. Firms are saddled with legacy solutions, cumbersome workflows and limited insights into data. All this makes audit readiness a grueling and thankless job for compliance teams. 

Effective cloud archiving solutions can help your organization build custom workflows, chain-of-custody reporting, new supervision features and modern e-discovery. Armed with this information, businesses can stand up to the toughest regulatory scrutiny.

Time to Think About a Compliance Refresh

You’re not alone in thinking it’s time to reconsider your email compliance strategy. Financial services organizations clearly recognize the value of a modern, purpose-built cloud archive and data protection solutions, while recognizing that legacy solutions are becoming outdated, having never meant to handle today’s regulatory requirements, nor the volumes of data companies create and distribute via email. A good example of that is GDPR email compliance.

More than three-quarters of the survey respondents (77%) said they are highly likely to consider alternative compliance and supervision solutions over the next 12 months. Which begs the question: what are firms looking for? According to IDG, the following are the top objectives that can help email and regulatory compliance teams and reviewers work smarter and reduce complexity.

Reduce Compliance Complexity 

The bottom line is that your organization’s email compliance strategy should be flexible and optimized to meet the needs of your business—not something that forces you to work around its dated limitations. With so many regulatory requirements to keep a pulse on, financial firms are vulnerable to risk, data loss, fines, and brand exposure. 

According to IDG, the efficiency with which a financial services organization manages its email compliance and overall regulatory compliance efforts can translate directly into competitive advantage. How would you rate your firm’s competitiveness in this area? 

Learn more about how to reduce compliance complexity.