Thursday, January 12, 2012

SEC Issues Statement Regarding Social Media Usage Within The Wealth Management Industry

http://www.sec.gov/about/offices/ocie/riskalert-socialmedia.pdf

The SEC has issued an updated statement that is serving to provide additional guidance to Financial Advisers using Social Media in their practice. Click on the llink above for the full SEC update.  We expect to see more clairification to the guidelines this year as more and more wealth management firms move activities online.

According to the SEC update: "Investment advisers that use or permit the use of social media by their representatives, solicitors and/or third parties should consider periodically evaluating the effectiveness of their compliance program as it relates to social media. Factors that might be considered include usage guidelines, content standards, sufficient monitoring, approval of content, training, etc. Particular attention should be paid to third party content (if permitted) and recordkeeping responsibilities."  

Prior to starting any actitivities online it is critical to prepare a detailed Social Media Policy and provide proper training and guidelines to all Advisers using the tools online.

FINRA Has Updated Position on Social Media Practices for Financial Advisers

The link below provides Financial Advisors with the most recent comments regarding FINRA guidelines for Social Media practices.


http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111230/FREE/111239990/-1/INDaily01&dailycount=1&issuedate=20111230