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SIFMA Home > Industry Priorities > E-Mail & Electronic Records

E-Mail & Electronic Records

LATEST UPDATES:

• Letter to the SEC re: Modernization of Securities Exchange Act Rule 17a-4 (Electronic Records & E-mail Retention) - Follow-up - Nov 2, 2006
• Presentations from the October 27, 2006 Electronic Records Forum
• In October 2005, SIA formed the Electronic Records Modernization Task Force which is working on various e-mail and electronic records issues. The Task Force is made up of legal, compliance, and technology professionals from more than 15 member firms. In the Spring of 2006, the Task Force started new discussions with the SEC regarding the storage and retrieval of electronic records, interpretations of Rule 17a-4, WORM, and other issues surrounding the use of electronic records by SIA members. SIA members are also concerned with the increasingly large requests for electronic records from federal and state securities regulators. SIA expects to have further discussions with the SEC on these issues in the Fall of 2006.

BACKGROUND

There is presently a good deal of confusion regarding the recordkeeping responsibilities of US broker-dealers, particularly with respect to email. The following materials are intended to clarify the scope and current status of the rule, including the ongoing discussions of SIA and the SEC to revise it. The fact sheet makes the following points:

• The SEC's recordkeeping rules relating to email retention are not clear;  
• The electronic storage technology mandated by the SEC does not allow for the prompt and efficient archiving of the volume of internal emails produced today; and  
• The industry has worked proactively with the regulators to resolve the retention and storage issues that electronic communications present.