BlackBerry Limited (NASDAQ: BBRY, TSX: BB) and VoxSmart, a mobile surveillance and compliance firm, have announced that the companies have partnered to help financial services firms comply on time with the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II). Together with BlackBerry UEM (Unified Endpoint Management), which connects and manages endpoints, VoxSmart’s patented technology VSmart will provide financial services firms with the ability to capture, record, store, and analyze mobile voice, text, and third-party instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp and WeChat.
MiFID II, which comes into effect on January 3, 2018, demands that all financial services firms in Europe must keep records of all services, activities and transactions for at least five years. Records include all electronic and instant messaging communications, telephone conversations and text messages related to or intended to conclude in a transaction, even if one does not occur. The directive seeks to make financial markets in Europe more resilient, transparent and investor-friendly.
“Together with VoxSmart, we can enable businesses around the world to effortlessly capture conversations on endpoints including smartphones, wearables, tablets, and laptops,” said Florian Bienvenu, SVP of EMEA Sales, BlackBerry. “This joint solution is an excellent example of how BlackBerry is leveraging its software portfolio and developing strong partnerships to secure the Enterprise of Things.”
“VoxSmart is the only global mobile compliance solution that can capture, record, store, and analyze both voice and third party instant message applications such as WhatsApp and WeChat,” said Oliver Blower, CEO, VoxSmart. “Our partnership with BlackBerry has already led to additional Proofs of Concept exercises from other global investment banks and financial services firms, who are seeing the MiFID II Directive as a chance to refine their approach to mobile security and compliance.”
Already successfully deployed to several global investment banks and trading houses, VSmart provides a perfect balance between user experience and compliance, securing, and enabling regulated users, all while adhering to stringent global regulations such as Dodd-Frank and MiFID II. BlackBerry UEM, part of BlackBerry Secure, a comprehensive endpoint-to-endpoint approach to security, enables customers to connect and manage endpoints such as smartphones, wearables, laptops, and tablets on a trusted, secure, scalable platform.