Blog Article

2021 RIA in a Box Investment Adviser Compliance Software Innovations Round-Up

Dec 29, 2021

In 2021, RIA in a Box released a series of new compliance tools including a communications archiving and review solution, and an advisor virtual desktop.

Our company is committed to investing both time and resources to make the RIA in a Box MyRIACompliance® platform, the industry leading compliance technology offered to registered investment adviser (“RIA”) firms. We empower our clients by delivering innovative software and expert advice. At RIA in a Box, we release new MyRIACompliance® software features and enhancements regularly to meet the evolving compliance challenges that investment advisers continue to confront.

Here are the most noteworthy MyRIACompliance® features and updates released during 2021: 

1.  Communications Archiving and Review Solution

RIA firms can complete their archiving and review duties within the MyRIACompliance® platform. The Communications Archiving and Review solution enables RIA firms to store, retrieve, and filter communications all within a single platform. Users gain access to time saving and intuitive features that help them efficiently meet their compliance requirements. Platform Capabilities include:

  • Email Archiving: All necessary components of your firm’s emails are automatically stored and readily available for review. Connection capabilities for email services include Google G Suite and Microsoft 365. Customizable keywords can be set to auto-flag emails for review. 
  • Social Media Archiving: Our solution archives personal, professional and company social media activity, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Customizable keywords can be set to auto-flag posts for review. 
  • Website Archiving: Your entire website is captured and can be previewed in an interactive way to visualize and review archived webpages. All data is retained in a compliant format to satisfy regulatory requirements.
  • Review Communications: Easily search, filter, and review all of your firm’s communications in one intuitive solution. Stay on track by adding regular reviews to your compliance calendar.

{% video_player “embed_player” overrideable=False, type=’scriptV4′, hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, autoplay=False, hidden_controls=False, loop=False, muted=False, full_width=False, width=’500′, height=’281′, player_id=’48218758511′, style=” %}{% video_player “embed_player” overrideable=False, type=’scriptV4′, hide_playlist=True, viral_sharing=False, embed_button=False, autoplay=False, hidden_controls=False, loop=False, muted=False, full_width=False, width=’1′, height=’1′, player_id=’35847707665′, style=” %}

 

2. ĪTEGRIA® Virtual Desktop and MyRIACompliance® Dashboard

In May 2021, we announced the strategic acquisition of ITEGRIA. Following the acquisition, RIA in a Box released the ITEGRIA® Virtual Desktop paired with the new MyRIACompliance® Dashboard solution for RIA firms. This technology solution is designed to protect against cyberattacks and boost productivity, while maintaining strict regulatory compliance standards. The MyRIACompliance® dashboard provides automated digital compliance reports for the firm to review and document to help prepare
for a regulatory audit.

3. SEC Marketing Rule Page

With respect to the SEC Marketing Rule, RIA firms registered with the SEC, which have implemented the new rule, are now required to provide additional information related to their marketing practices on the Form ADV. In the MyRIACompliance® platform, supervisor users of SEC-registered RIA firms will be prompted to view our blog post and webinar on the marketing rule. We also provide a Policies and Procedures Manual tool and a link to the Form ADV Changes page. In addition to this page, SEC-registered RIA firms will also have a calendar item pertaining to the new rule.

4. Automated Employee Trade Monitoring Platform Enhancements 

Over the last year, our team has worked to enhance the MyRIACompliance® Automated Employee Trade Monitoring solution. With the ability to establish an electronic data feed to over 15,000 financial institutions, the employee trade monitoring feature automates the submission and tracking of personal securities holdings and transactions for RIA firms of all sizes. 

New 2021 enhancements of this platform include: 

  • Mass Upload via CSV file: Users can now download our CSV template(s) into Excel to upload their data, such as client transactions and restricted securities list within minutes.

    Users can take advantage of this new upload feature for the following two separate key activities:

    1. Automatically identify front-running violations. Users can upload all client transactions into our Employee Trade Monitoring solution to automatically compare with employee transactions. Prior to this enhancement, only users who subscribed to both the Employee Trade Monitoring solution feature of MyRIACompliance® and Orion could benefit from the auto flag feature that identifies potential front-running trade violations. Now, all our employee trade monitoring users can say goodbye to manually cross-referencing spreadsheets by using the CSV upload feature for their client transactions.
    2. Seamlessly manage and update private restricted securities list in one quick upload. For firms who currently maintain a restricted securities list, this feature eliminates the time-consuming process of manually adding and removing restricted securities.
  • Clear Trade Function: This new feature makes it easier for supervisors to identify potential trade violations and streamlines the documentation of how any issues were resolved into the user’s compliance log. With a user-friendly interface, supervisors can seamlessly view executed trades and “clear” them out of the review list.
  • Pre-Clearance Automation Rule(s): Supervisory users can save time by setting customized parameters for the automated approval of employee’s personal trading requests. For example, the supervisor can select the maximum value and number of shares per personal trade request to be automatically pushed through the approval process. The firm’s restricted list will still limit all trade requests.
  • Dynamic Ticker Database: The Dynamic Ticker database updates daily to support all actively listed stocks and ETFs on major US exchanges. This feature improves the system’s ability to identify potential trading violations.

5. DOL Rule Module: In response to the Department of Labor’s (“DOL”) PTE 2020-02 “Improving Investment Advice for Workers and Retirees”, we developed a DOL Rule module for our MyRIACompliance® users. Users are provided with educational resources and tools related to the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule through our DOL Rule Module under the regulatory tab. We offer a sample DOL Rule checklist for firms to document their compliance with the Impartial Conduct Standards.

6. MyRIACompliance Platform Homepage Redesign®: We released the redesign of our MyRIACompliance® platform homepage in the first quarter of 2021. The new homepage is designed to be more intuitive for both supervisory users and employees. The redesign includes, but is not limited to, the following upgrades: 1) clear labels to better distinguish tasks required between the firm’s employees versus the CCO or supervisory user, 2) improved dashboard to view calendar items and urgent action items, 3) a resources section for relevant industry news. Our team will continue to listen to client feedback and develop and/or enhance features that will improve the user experience on MyRIACompliance®.

7. Integrations (and enhancements to existing integrations):

Stay tuned for upcoming innovations in 2022!

  • Our Continuing Education Program will be available for investment advisers to enhance their fiduciary knowledge and fulfill the Investment Adviser Representative Continuing Education requirements through the MyRIACompliance® platform.
  • We will also release an upgraded version of our compliance log in the coming months.