The Risk & Compliance Hub is integrated into the award-winning2 Streetscape workstation. It combines Streetscape's proprietary pre-trade modules with SunGard's® Protegent suite of post-trade surveillance solutions, including automated trade review, anti-money laundering, employee trading as well as security and fraud protection.

The Risk & Compliance Hub also features a social media oversight capability, which can help make it easier for financial advisors to engage with and attract clients on social networking sites like Facebook®, LinkedIn® and Twitter®.

Risk and compliance issues are top of mind for financial advisors. A recent Fidelity survey3 revealed that 75 percent of financial advisors were concerned that shifts in the regulatory and compliance environment will make their jobs more difficult. In the past 12 months alone4, 25 percent of financial advisors report having spent more time managing regulatory and compliance issues.

Time dedicated to managing regulatory issues, as well as concerns about compliance, may also be keeping financial advisors from engaging in new communications techniques such as social media. Of financial advisors surveyed, only 12 percent used Facebook and 6 percent used Twitter for professional purposes.

Yet, 42 percent said that financial advisors who do not embrace emerging communications channels like social media are missing out. An estimated five million high-net-worth investors are currently tapping into social media for financial planning and investment research activities5.

"Broker-dealers face a growing array of challenges in managing the evolving compliance and risk landscape. Simply keeping pace with required reporting and monitoring can make it difficult for firms to focus on offering compliance around new communications strategies like social media," said Richard N. Hart III, head of platform technology for National Financial.

"The new Risk & Compliance Hub enhancement to the Streetscape workstation may station may allow broker-dealers to more confidently operate in today's risk and compliance environment while also taking advantage of new marketing channels."

Leveraging social media is particularly important for engaging the next generation of investors. Recent research by Fidelity Investments6 underscored this, showing that 34 percent of Gen X/Y investors felt it was important for their advisors to have a social media presence.

A Single, Automated Risk and Compliance Resource

Built to operate as a single, automated and centralized compliance and surveillance solution to monitor transactional and operational activity within a firm, the Risk & Compliance Hub combines Streetscape's proprietary pre-trade modules with SunGard's® Protegent suite of post-trade tools into workflows that can help protect a broker-dealer's business integrity. This comprehensive solution is designed to help firms manage risk more efficiently and with more cost predictability. Key features include:

Social Media Surveillance —Can help enable firms to monitor and archive activity and content posted to social networking Web sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, no matter where or from what device the post was made.
Pre-Trade Rules Engine —Evaluates orders submitted to mitigate operational and financial risks and aids in analyzing and managing trading and compliance processes, real-time pre-trade order review with real-time order alerts7.
Post-Trade Sales Practice Review—Can help automate review of client trade activity against regulatory guidelines and a firm's risk posture.
Security and Fraud Protection —Can help manage access, protect user IDs, prevent fraudulent trading.
Anti-Money Laundering —Can help strengthen ability to analyze and detect transaction patterns indicative of potentially suspicious activity with a customer's profile, based on USA PATRIOT Act and Bank Secrecy Act guidelines.
Employee Trading —Can help save time by automating compliance with personal trading regulations pertaining to employee activities, Investment Company Institute recommendations, Sarbanes-Oxley, and a firm's specific code of ethics.

"The breadth and flexibility of our Web-based solution can help reduce the burden on compliance staff for the manual, day-to-day management of technology and data," said Hart. "This not only improves the advisor and compliance experience, it also helps Chief Information Officers and Chief Compliance Officers enhance operational efficiency by streamlining costs and resource planning."

Continuation of Fidelity's Multi-Year Technology Investment Strategy

Delivering on National Financial's multi-year strategy to deploy the industry's most advanced technology platform for brokers and investors, the new Streetscape Risk & Compliance Hub follows the recent roll-out of a next-generation client householding tool and iPad® app for Streetscape®. Previous enhancements also include last year's launch of myStreetscape® mobile apps and a completely revamped end investor portal.

The ongoing introduction of new capabilities is part of the continuing investment in the Streetscape workstation which was named by Aite Group as the "Broker Workstation Leader" for 2012. The Streetscape workstation is designed to help increase broker productivity, drive investor satisfaction and collaboration, and make home offices more efficient.