FCA Identified 178 Communication Compliance Breaches
Financial firms must implement certified Microsoft Teams recording tools to meet MiFID II recordkeeping mandates.
Updated on Oct. 5, 2026 in Financial Services
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The UK Financial Conduct Authority identified 178 policy breaches related to off-channel communication recording across 11 wholesale banks. These gaps leave firms non-compliant with MiFID II Article 16(7) standards, which require the retention of regulated communications for five to seven years.
Why it matters
Regulated firms must ensure their communication technology captures data to satisfy strict evidential standards, as the regulation applies to content rather than the specific software used. Native recording features often fail to meet these legal requirements, creating significant risk exposure for senior leadership.
The FCA review identified 178 breaches over 12 months, with 41% of violations involving staff at or above the director level. Meanwhile, 52% of surveyed firms failed to fully capture trader voice calls, and 34% lacked full capture of online meetings.
The players
Financial Conduct Authority
The UK's primary financial services regulator responsible for overseeing market conduct and setting firm compliance standards.
The details
Compliance recording for platforms like Microsoft Teams requires certified partner solutions that capture calls directly through the infrastructure rather than relying on native storage like OneDrive. These captured records must be reconciled against trade data to ensure a complete audit trail. Firms lacking these specialized integrations often fail to meet the evidential thresholds required by regulators for multi-year communication retention.
Timeline
2024: MiFID II and MiFIR review was conducted.
7 August 2025: FCA published its off-channel communications review.
2026: Teams became the primary telephony for regulated trading desks.
Market Landscape
The FCA findings reinforce that MiFID II Article 16(7) serves as the persistent regulatory baseline for all communication recordkeeping. The data marks a departure from the assumption that native collaboration software features are sufficient for institutional-grade compliance.
Operators must audit their current telephony and meeting recording workflows to ensure they utilize certified integration partners rather than native platform tools. Failure to reconcile these records against trade data creates immediate, high-level regulatory exposure.
The takeaway
The FCA report highlights that communication compliance is an institutional duty that spans from the director level down, regardless of the technology stack. Firms should immediately review their technical recording architecture to ensure it meets the five-to-seven-year data retention mandate.
Further reading
For more on industry mandates, visit our Financial Services section.
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