Communications Archiving for Financial Advisors: The Basics

Updated 2026-11-07 · AdvisorSupplies editors

Regulators expect advisory firms to keep business communications and produce them on request. Since 2021 the SEC has fined many firms for staff using unapproved "off-channel" texting apps, which has made archiving a board-level topic.

The main rules (in brief)

• RIAs: SEC Rule 204-2 under the Investment Advisers Act requires advisers to keep certain books and records, including written communications related to advice and recommendations, generally for five years.
• Broker-dealers: SEC Rule 17a-4 and FINRA Rule 4511 set record-keeping and retention requirements for business communications.
• Marketing: the SEC Marketing Rule and FINRA communications rules govern review and approval of advertising.

This is a summary, not legal advice. Confirm your obligations with your compliance team or counsel.

What to archive

• Email, including attachments.
• Text messages and messaging apps used for business.
• Social media posts and messages on business accounts.
• Website and marketing content, plus approval records.
• Video meeting chat, and recordings if your policy keeps them.

Questions for archiving vendors

• Which channels are captured natively (Microsoft 365, Gmail, iMessage/SMS, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, Zoom, Teams)?
• Is storage WORM-compliant or otherwise compliant with SEC requirements?
• How does supervision and lexicon-based review work?
• How fast can you search and export for an exam?
• What happens to our archive if we leave?

Compare compliance & archiving vendors and compliant texting tools.