Compliance fundamentals: Capture, archival, and recordkeeping

KEY TAKEAWAYS

How do financial firms meet global compliance recordkeeping requirements across expanding data channels? This article highlights capture and archival essentials and how Bloomberg Vault’s services helps companies strengthen their regulatory integrity under major regulatory frameworks.

As communication tools multiply and regulatory expectations evolve, compliance teams face increasing pressure to capture and preserve every relevant message, transaction, and interaction. To meet regulatory expectations, firms need a clear understanding of the principles and practices that underpin effective recordkeeping.

This two-part series explores how firms can build and maintain an effective recordkeeping program from the ground up. Part 1 lays out the foundation, defining what capture and archival mean, noteworthy requirements, what data must be preserved, and who within a firm is responsible. Part 2 examines how modern collaboration tools are reshaping compliance archiving, and what robust technology infrastructure looks like across capture, archival, and search capabilities.

What is data capture and archival?

In financial services, data capture and archival refers to the process of capturing a firm’s business data and creating a durable, tamper-evident record of that data. It forms the official “books and records” of what occurred within the firm, including activities tied to regulated business, and preserves the context needed to understand those events.

Firms capture and archive data for many reasons, involving stakeholders across business, audit, legal, compliance, and technology. The most significant driver is regulation. In many major jurisdictions, regulators have some form of rule stating that regulated firms must capture, preserve, and securely store records of business communications and transactions for defined periods, and retrieve those records promptly upon request.

The definition of what constitutes a “record” varies based on the regulation/jurisdiction. It generally includes but is not limited to business communications and transaction details.

Why recordkeeping, data capture, and archival are critical in financial markets

Financial firms are required to maintain complete and reliable “books and records” so both regulators and the firm itself can examine business activity. These records underpin market integrity and investor protection. They enable internal teams to investigate issues and allow regulators to request and review historical data during examinations and enforcement.

Across many regulatory regimes, rules require firms to preserve business communications and transaction records for defined periods and to retrieve them promptly, supported by a reliable audit trail.

The purpose of these frameworks is straightforward: the archive should represent the firm’s official memory of regulated activity. If questions arise about orders, communications, or supervision, the archive provides a trustworthy record of what was said, by whom, when, and in what context, along with the ability to produce that record quickly and prove its integrity.

What are the regulatory recordkeeping requirements?

Across major financial jurisdictions, regulatory recordkeeping frameworks generally require regulated institutions to maintain complete, accurate, and tamper-resistant records of business communications, client interactions, and transaction-related data for multi-year periods.

Consistently, regulators emphasize auditability, supervisory oversight, and the ability to produce records promptly upon request.

What data needs to be captured for compliance recordkeeping?

The precise data set depends on the firm’s regulator operating model, asset classes, and approved communication channels, and could include:

Transaction Data:

Records necessary to reconstruct orders and trades, including but not limited to order and execution details, amendments and cancellations, allocations and confirmations, timestamps, instrument and trader identifiers, venue and routing data, and relevant system logs and metadata that evidence the transaction lifecycle.

Communication Data:

Client electronic and voice/video communications, including with respect to client orders and transactions, including their emails, enterprise chats, Bloomberg IBs, Bloomberg MSGs, or other in-app chats, collaboration tools, or mobile messaging. This includes attachments and certain message metadata such as participants, timestamps, and channel identifiers.

Who is responsible for recordkeeping in financial services?

Responsibility generally is shared across functions in the financial firm, which, depending on its size, is usually managed by separate and distinct groups:

• Business, legal, risk and/or compliance teams determine/set policy and control frameworks pursuant to both internal and regulatory requirements.
• Technology and engineering teams implement and operate capture pipelines and archival platforms in line with that policy/control framework.
• Business supervisors manage the day-to-day operations as the first line of defense, including channel usage and retention.
• Risk management and compliance teams use surveillance to monitor and oversee adherence to company policy/control frameworks and regulatory requirements as the second line of defense.
• Internal audit teams provide independent assurance as the third line of defense.

Conclusion

Compliance recordkeeping is a foundational regulatory requirement that underpins the integrity and transparency of financial markets. These rules exist to ensure firms create and maintain a reliable record of regulated activity.

While the specific requirements may differ by jurisdiction or business model, regulated firm are expected to maintain accurate, complete, and accessible records. Getting recordkeeping right is essential, not only to meet regulatory expectations, but to protect clients, uphold market trust, and enable effective oversight.

How Bloomberg Vault supports compliance recordkeeping

Building a compliant recordkeeping framework begins with clarity with the regulations: understanding what information must be captured, who is accountable, and why these obligations exist. Once this is assessed by a firm, Bloomberg Vault helps its clients to put certain compliance controls into practice, bringing confidence, control, and peace of mind to an increasingly complex compliance landscape.

Vault offers integrated tools for multichannel capture, archiving, supervision, and retrieval, designed to help firms meet their evolving regulatory obligations. By consolidating data from chat, voice, email, and collaboration platforms into a single archive, Vault delivers enhanced visibility.

With AI-powered surveillance and real-time monitoring, Vault goes beyond detection, helping to identify potential risks early and enabling proactive, preventative compliance. The solution is built on Bloomberg’s secure, trusted infrastructure and backed by decades of market expertise.

In the next part of this series, we’ll explore how technology, data architecture, and modern communication platforms can help firms build recordkeeping systems that are resilient, scalable, and ready for the future.

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