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The IAA Compliance Conference brought us to Washington DC last week; three days, hundreds of compliance professionals, and some candid conversations about the state of communications compliance. Here's what was on their minds.
The Sessions Set the Scene
The two sessions we attended covered exam preparation - a panel of CCOs and SEC examiners sharing what firms need to know - and a fireside chat with SEC Commissioner Mark T. Uyeda. The tone from the regulatory side was notably different from previous years. Enforcement philosophy is shifting toward harm-focused cases. Recordkeeping rules are evolving to reflect how firms communicate today, and the firms paying attention now will be in the best position when they land.
That was the broad picture, but our conversations at the booth told a more immediate story.
What Compliance Teams Are Facing Daily
Three problems came up again and again, in different rooms, with different firms, across three days.
False positives were the dominant topic. Compliance teams are drowning in review queues generated by tools that flag too much and catch too little. CCOs described spending hours each day clearing flags that should never have been raised.
Channel coverage was the fastest-growing anxiety in the room. Mobile communications, Microsoft Teams, Slack - advisers are using these platforms daily, but for many firms the archiving either isn't keeping pace, or new channels aren't reflected in the compliance policy. Either way, the exposure is legitimate, and gaps like these are exactly where enforcement lands.
Data export fees are an ongoing industry problem, and a well-worn tactic for providers to hold their clients' information hostage. Firms that want to switch vendors are stuck – charged extortionate fees for access to their own records, with exports made painful enough that leaving doesn't seem feasible. Most compliance teams can see it for what it is: vendor lock-in, buried in the small print.
How MirrorWeb Can Help
These three persistent issues have informed our posture for a prolonged period.
False positives: Sentinel AI clears 98% of them before they reach your review queue. Your team spends its time reviewing communications that warrant attention, not drowning in noise.
Channel coverage: Our capture capabilities evolve with how your team communicates. As new channels emerge and become part of how business gets done, we move with them, quickly.
Data ownership: This one is straightforward - your data is yours. MirrorWeb will never hold your archive to ransom, charge exit fees to access your records, or make switching harder than it needs to be. We've seen what the alternative looks like, and would prefer our customers to stay because they want to.
The themes that kept coming up in Washington aren't new, but the urgency behind them is growing. This is why we show up - to hear what compliance teams are dealing with, and keep solving the right problems. If your team is navigating the same pressures, we can help - book a demo.
