Electronic communications surveillance (eComms surveillance) is often manually intensive, time consuming, and highly reactive. The 2024 Surveillance Benchmarking report published by 1LoD shows the average surveillance team size consists of around 103 employees—who spend a massive 81% of their time simply reviewing alerts.
The eComms landscape has evolved rapidly in recent years. While the pandemic created short-term challenges with many staff working from home, long-term workplace changes such as more flexible arrangements and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies have added to the long-term impacts on surveillance. Additionally, the proliferation of eComms channels, such as email, instant messaging apps like WhatsApp and WeChat, video conferencing tools, and social media messaging platforms​ has made this landscape significantly more complex.
Language coverage also falls short in many situations. The same 1LoD report reveals that 46% of communications surveillance functions cover only 0-5 languages. A smaller 36% cover 5-10 languages, and just 18% cover 10+ languages. Additionally, dialects, region-specific vernacular, and shorthand, such as that commonly used by traders, can see potential red flags go undetected.
So, how can compliance teams ensure effective eComms surveillance coverage while also proactively identifying red flags before they snowball into larger policy and compliance issues?
Hear from industry experts about the challenges financial firms face and practical strategies to enhance your eComms surveillance policies and processes.
We will dive deep into the world of eCommunications surveillance in our 1-hour live webinar. You will gain: