Financial firms may be forced to record mobile calls

Technology now exists to record and store all mobile calls

New regulations from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) could force financial companies to record all mobile calls and store them for six months.

However, experts claimed today at a roundtable debate hosted by RIM that the regulations could lead many other enterprises to record mobile calls.

Financial firms currently have to record all fixed-line and email conversations, but not mobile calls. The FSA is holding a consultation period on whether to remove the exemption on mobile devices.

The exemption exists because it had been argued that technology was not up to such a requirement. However, Robert Dempster, director of enterprise sales at BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) said that systems now exist to make this possible.

"The cost, ease of implementation and security issues surrounding technology for mobile voice recording and storage means that firms of all sizes are now able to integrate this technology with any existing recording systems on mobile devices," he said.

"However, given the proliferation of smartphones in multiple business areas, there is a lot of interest in this technology in a number of businesses as it becomes more cost-effective to implement."

The legal benefits are another reason that firms should look to take advantage of this technology, according to Roger Tym, a partner specialising in financial services law at legal firm Lovells.

"Regulatory requirements always give a good boost to technologies, and many enterprises may well now look at the cost benefits of introducing mobile recording systems and decide there is good reason for doing so," he said.

"It offers strong evidence if any issues should arise between firms, and provides a clear operational efficiency by allowing organisations to carry out business of any nature without falling foul of regulatory issues."

Vox-Smart, which sells an off-the-shelf application that records calls made on BlackBerry devices, and stores them at centralised or third-party hosting locations, said that its system had been deployed in healthcare organisations, local authorities and fire services.

RIM added that, while it has yet to submit anything to the FSA's consultation, it will respond before the deadline on 14 June, which it will make public at the time.

Vodafone has already announced a service called Vodafone Mobile Recording, designed to help financial firms address issues of governance, business continuity and risk management in light of the FSA consultation.