Symphony blog

As the landscape of communication continues to evolve in our increasingly digital world, the financial services industry is feeling the pinch of regulatory scrutiny. In recent years, financial firms have faced nearly $2 billion in penalties from the SEC and CFTC due to unregulated “off-channel” messaging. This surge in “off-channel” communication, including usage of platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat, SMS, LINE, and mobile calls, is largely fueled by the rise of hybrid work. Yet, regulators maintain that all business communications must be monitored, auditable, and occur only within official channels. In the words of SEC Chair Gary Gensler, “As technology changes, it’s even more important that registrants appropriately conduct their communications about business matters within only official channels. And they must maintain and preserve those communications.”

We live in a fast-evolving age of information, where Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools are starting to be used in many areas like financial decision-making and

Almost a decade ago, Europe led the way in shortening the settlement cycle to T+2 – a task that required wholesale re-engineering of European market-structure. Mere months from now, European securities firms will again be challenged – this time with the move to US NEXT-DAY settlement. Once more, our market participants face a complete restructuring of entire organisational workflows.

Started in 2014 as a messaging platform to enable data security and compliance, today Symphony is a leading common connector for market workflows. Among other things, Symphony provides more than half a million users with secure tele-conferencing services. At the core of these services lies a piece of software tech known as Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU). We call it Symphony Media Bridge (SMB).

The SEC has adopted a final rule to shorten the standard settlement cycle for most securities transactions from two business days (T+2) to one business day following the trade date (T+1). The reduced settlement period is forcing companies to reexamine their post-trade processes and procedures, which include communication methods. This article discusses several operating model changes to help with the transition to T+1 ahead of the compliance deadline of May 28, 2024.

Ever since the financial crisis of 2018 led to the restructuring of the global financial architecture, market participants have been required to meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. This trend is only intensifying.