Santander Takes Fonetic for Dodd-Frank, Mifid Compliance

The solution allows for the advanced analysis of voice records, using linguistic technology that can recognize up to 79 languages, dialects and more informal forms of communication, such as the jargon typical to trading environments. In addition to voice, the product captures e-mail and instant messaging, allowing compliance officers to detect patterns in unstructured data regarding trading activity.

The technology, which has been deployed at other institutions for several years now, allows compliance departments to keep up with requirements in legislation such as the Dodd-Frank Act and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid), both of which require market surveillance to be undertaken and genuine efforts made to take a proactive approach to fraud and abuse detection. Institutions must be able to provide regulators, on request, with information related to a specific trade within a 72-hour timeframe.

"The simple reality is that all the world's leading banks will have to comply with Dodd-Frank by April 2014 or risk severe penalties. The challenge for banks is how to compete in the highly dynamic derivatives and swaps markets and not be over-burdened by compliance processes," says Juan Manuel Soto, CEO at Fonetic. "Starting today, our solution is now available to banks and trading firms globally, and we look forward to ensuring that traders can continue to work in the most efficient way, while still providing compliance departments with the reassurance they need to trace every interaction on any given trade if required to by regulators."