In 2016, the Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC) established ‘Class Order [14/923]’, which imposes record-keeping obligations when providing financial advice to retail clients. Any person with an Australian Financial Services (AFS) license must adhere to this legislation.
The Class Order [14/923] mandates all records must be stored for seven years, beginning from the date after the personal advice was provided to the client. The Class Order still applies if the AFS licensee becomes no longer licensed within the seven years that the personal advice was provided.
In the same year, ASIC released ‘Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2016/1006’ that states each AFS licensee must have access to all records throughout the entire 7-year duration they are to be stored. AFS licensees may be requested to provide a specific call recording and, if so, are subject to provide the record.
In this blog, we’ll explore the impacts of these two legislative requirements and how using call recording software and a call recording storage solution will help your organisation effectively meet compliance obligations.
How is your organisation affected by the record-keeping obligations?
This amendment aims to build customer confidence that if any advice needs to be revisited, the AFS licensee can provide the customer with their record and use it to remediate their advice if necessary.
The purpose of the Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2016/1006 is to:
(a) “clarify that licensee must also have access at all times to records about personal advice during the period in which the records are required to be kept;
(b) place a direct obligation on authorised representatives who are advisers to keep records about personal advice, and give the records to the licensee if the licensee requests the records provided the request is made in connection with the obligations imposed on the licensee under Chapter 7 of the Act, during the period in which the records are required to be kept, and
(c) restore the original policy intent of the principal class order so that the exemption to the record-keeping obligation in the principal class order only applies where the modified best interests duty applies.”
To ensure all client interactions that provide advice are recorded, stored and accessible, your organisation should adopt a call recording system and a call recording storage solution. This means any staff member with an AFS license will comply with the relevant legislation.
Call Recording Software vs Call Recording Storage – Why you need both
Call recording software integrates with a phone system or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service and captures the audio stream within the interaction. Investing in call recording software can help your organisation adhere to Class Order [14/923], as this legislation requires any interaction that involves providing personal advice to a client to be recorded.
In contrast, a cloud-based call recording storage system consolidates all audiotapes and stores each recording as a digital file. These systems are typically interoperable with call recording software, simplifying the seamless recording data transfer between the two solutions. Your organisation can satisfy the Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2016/1006 by using a call recording storage solution.
ipSCAPE’s contact centre technology has native call recording functionality that enables recording all calls. ipSCAPE Vault is a cloud-based call recording storage system that aggregates records from multiple sources and can be securely stored for an infinite amount of time. A centralised platform will help your organisation quickly manage and access every client interaction. This solution provides advanced searching functionality so managers can filter on specific variables, such as the metadata, and locate a particular record. Any record is downloadable from the solution, which enables an AFS licensee to provide a record upon request.
Implementing call recording software and a call recording storage system will assist your organisation in achieving compliance with Class Order [14/923] and Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2016/1006.
Would you like to find out how your organisation can leverage a call recording system or call recording storage solution? Contact ipSCAPE and learn how our cloud contact centre technology can help your business achieve compliance.
ipSCAPE is a feature-rich, scalable cloud communication technology solution with advanced integration capabilities. We help businesses connect with their customers through multi-channel communications, including Voice, Web Chat, Email, SMS, IVR, and other emerging channels.