Still time to comment on new communication rules

Electronic communications are a big deal at Wall Street firms these days. With so many people Blackberrying, IMing and text messaging, there are many new avenues for confidential information to leak. The NYSE and NASD have to come up with some guidance and are asking for comment. The comment period expires July 13, so you have time still. The guidance as of now is principles-based and basically holds that if a company can't properly monitor messages or senders cannot be identified, then the communications should be blocked. The guidelines suggest using only messaging methods that can result in saved messages. This is a major issue that could very well change the way some of your employees do business. So it is at least worth thinking about. You may want to review your policies now.

For more:
- here's the guidance from NASD