Just over half of firms (56%) are investing in communications surveillance, trade and communications surveillance firm SteelEye’s Annual Compliance Health Check report has found. This figure is at odds with firms’ purported intentions to allocate more resources to compliance, the report stated.
Despite the increase in regulatory expectations, and the expectation that regulators’ fines are set to rise in both value and volume, expenditure on compliance operations has decreased since 2023. SteelEye suggests that this deprioritisation is the result of cost pressures resulting from geopolitical and economic pressures. More than a third (36%) of firms have seen compliance-related tech projects discontinued due to “persistent macroeconomic challenges”, it reported. Employee burnout is also a key concern.
A particular lack of WhatsApp monitoring was cited in the report, with just 37% currently taking the platform into their compliance considerations. Given the fact that, according to SteelEye’s 2023 fine tracker, US$549 million in fines were levied across Wall Street last year as a result of failures to maintain records of employee communications via messaging apps, this is of considerable concern.
Matt Smith, CEO of SteelEye said: “Compliance teams are under unprecedented pressure to meet increasing regulatory demands. With investment in technology solutions not keeping pace with the need for compliance support, senior leadership should be on the lookout for evidence of burnout in their ranks. There’s also a very real possibility that compliance teams will be unable to fulfil their responsibilities as the regulatory burden becomes unmanageable for the compliance functions.”
“Embracing smarter, more efficient approaches to compliance is essential for navigating the evolving regulatory environment effectively.”
©Markets Media Europe 2024
