For the first time, financial organisations can engage with stakeholders and customers through social media in accordance with stringent guidelines outlined by the FSA, SEC and FINRA.

Clients, investors, business partners, media and industry peers are increasingly looking to engage with financial institutions through the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. However, regulatory compliance has led to slow uptake from banks, treasuries and insurance bodies, who are fearful of malpractice and possible litigation. SMC4 allows these organisations to implement compliant social media policies, meaning that for the first time they can communicate through social media, risk free.

Michael Veenswyk, Managing Director, Integritie said: "Compliance legislation requires financial institutions to be incredibly cautious with their communication with the outside world, and as a result there has been markedly slow uptake of social media in the sector. SMC4 changes all this, allowing organisations to communicate where their stakeholders are now listening, while adhering to regulatory requirements"

SMC4 also enables measurement of impact, engagement, reach and ROI of social media marketing initiatives. Detailed analytics enable financial services firms to compile and mine rich customer analytical data, providing valuable demographic information. Critically, it also enables social media integration with companywide workflows. This means that, for example, a complaint made through Facebook is routed into the same workflow that is responsible for managing complaints through any other communications medium.

SMC4 works by managing the four key areas of social media responsible for safe stakeholder engagement: capture, control, compliance and communication.

Capture
SMC4 logs and archives all social media interaction including information flowing in and out of an organisation. Detailed analytics capabilities also enable a financial services firm to compile and mine rich customer analytical data, providing valuable demographic information.

Control
It has embedded content dictionaries, tailored specifically for the financial industry which allows it to monitor two-way communications between financial advisors, customers and potential prospects. The tool also passes intended outbound information for textual analysis to interpret if a user is saying something inappropriate. If so, it is routed to quality control for corrective action.

Compliance
The entire system can be searched for relevant information. The resulting items can then be locked for legal hold and therefore cannot be deleted until such a time as the legal issue or compliance has been satisfied. Additionally, by adhering to eDiscovery standards, an extract of the data and all related information can be easily copied to transfer media and presented to the appropriate authorities or opposing legal counsel for their use.

Communication
SMC4 enables marketing departments and advisors at financial services organisations to use social media to earn more business and gain customer loyalty, while still remaining compliant with regulatory requirements as well as security requirements and corporate policy mandates.
Werner Kruck, COO at insurance company, Security First, said: "There will be times when we need to settle thirty to forty thousand claims in a very short period of time. Traditionally customers would contact us via phone - which we had a process in place for, however individuals have increasingly attempted to make claims via our social media channels. However, social media communication raises a number of issues on critical points such as compliance, speed of response, and management of information. We also need to connect with customers in a way that quickly fits into our workflows. SMC4 makes this process simple, and we now have a solution that allows us to manage this challenge, ultimately offering a better service to our customers."

Michael Veenswyk, Managing Director, Integritie continued; "Communication has evolved and businesses that fail to embrace social media will get left behind as consumers' social expectations continue to escalate. That is why SMC4 is a genuine game changer - it fast tracks the communications strategy of financial organisations, putting it on par with industry leaders across all sectors. Social cannot be ignored and the banks, treasuries and insurance bodies that get to grips with it, in a compliant fashion, will reap the benefits."