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Compliance Laws - Securities

SEC 17a-4 and NASD 3010
The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) originally enacted the Securities Exchange Act in 1934, as a means of protecting investors from fraudulent or misleading claims by securities dealers. The Act required member firms to create and maintain transaction records which could be reviewed and audited. In 1997, rule 17a-4 of the Act was amended to provide procedures for storage of electronic records, including emails. This rule has since been interpreted to include instant messages as well.

NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers) applies similar rules to its member firms through NASD 3010.

The provisions of SEC 17a-4 and NASD 3010 apply to all individuals and organizations involved in trading securities. This includes securities firms, stock brokerage firms, banks and any financial institutions that fall under SEC or NASD jurisdiction. They require securities dealers to implement specific, enforceable retention procedures which include the following:

Archived messages must be stored in duplicate. One copy must be stored in an online archive, and a second copy must be stored offline on permanent, tamperproof media, such as Write-Once-Read-Many (WORM) technology.

Storage media must be verified automatically for quality and accuracy.
Archived messages must be date/time-stamped and serialized. Each message must be assigned a unique, sequential identification number as a safeguard against deletion.
A searchable index of all stored data must be maintained. Indexes must be retained on each unit of storage media for the messages and attachments stored on that unit.
Messages and indexes must be easily retrievable and downloadable to other media as required by SEC regulators.

Athena Archiver helps Securities organizations achieve compliance with The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) 17a-4 and National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) 3010 as it pertains to email archiving.

Related Downloads

Athena Archiver and the Securities Industry

Athena Archiver Securities Industry
This document describes how Athena Archiver helps you meet the compliance regulations of the Securities Industry.

Download Securities Compliance .PDF

SEC 17a-4 (US Securities and Exchange Commission)
This document also describes the compliance regulations of the SEC 17a-4.

Download SEC 17a-4 .PDF

External Resources

Securities Lawyer's Deskbook published by The University of Cincinnati College of Law
http://www.law.uc.edu/CCL/34ActRls/rule17a-4.html

US Securities and Exchange Commission
www.sec.gov/

Athena Archiver offers a next-generation email archiving and e-discovery software system and hosted service for Exchange, Lotus Notes, GroupWise and SMTP which enables companies to meet growing litigation, compliance, and corporate governance needs. Athena Archiver creates a unified search interface for e-mail, instant message ( im ), and file / document discovery which simplifies electronic records retrieval, classification, review, policy management and legal document production. Suitable for the securities, hedge funds, accounting, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries, Athena Archiver offers a proven email archive solution for compliance with Sarbanes Oxley, SEC, NASD, CFR Part 11, FDIC and FDA regulations.