To no one’s surprise, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) has regulations ensuring financial website designs comply with consumer protection and safety standards.
Working with a designer who navigates legal and branding can help you make a strong marketing plan to pass compliance audits and bring in new leads.
Here are some of the most essential FDIC rules that you must follow for website compliance.
1. Include a Privacy Policy
Websites that give financial advice must have a privacy policy that tells users how they collect and use their personal information. The policy should also say how the website handles sensitive financial information.
A consulting firm can use many templates, but it’s always best to talk to your lawyer to ensure everything is covered.
2. Install Security Measures
When social security numbers, bank account numbers, and other sensitive information are passed between you and a client, your site must have strong security measures to keep hackers and other unauthorized people from accessing user data.
This includes encryption technology, strong passwords, and firewalls, which help stop identity theft, phishing, and other scams.
These compliance measures are vital to protect investors and be transparent in business practices.
3. Accessibility
People with disabilities, like those who are blind, deaf, or have trouble moving around, must also be able to use your website.
If you, a friend from college, or an associate has created a website without the proper ADA know-how, your SEO ranking will drop. (Yes, Google looks at accessibility too!)
4. Disclosure Requirements
Fees, interest rates, terms, and conditions must be straightforward and easy to understand on your financial site.
Work with a professional web designer who can apply your disclosures correctly and keep the site looking top-shelf.
5. Compliance Management Systems
When it’s time for your audit, have a trusted system ready to manage FDIC compliance regulations.
The financial services industry is witnessing incredible year-on-year growth on social media, and in a recent survey, 79% of financial advisors said they had successfully acquired new clients through social media. Addressing this heavy usage, entities such as FINRA, SEC, and the FCA have issued regulatory notices concerning web and social media sites. These notices state that financial institutions must retain records of all business-related electronic communications to remain compliant with regulations. Failure to comply can result in hefty fines, serious reputational harm, and ultimately, substantial loss of business.
3rd-party services such as PageFreezer perform almost anything your financial advisory could need to protect your digital presence:
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- Online Data Governance
- Monitoring & Data Loss Prevention
- GDPR & CCPA Compliance
- Financial Sector Compliance
- FOIA & Open Records Compliance
- Online Data Security and Privacy
- Retention Scheduling & Legal Hold
- eDiscovery & Litigation Readiness
- Evidence Collection
Avoid reputational damage
It takes a business a long time to build a good reputation, but it only takes one mistake to lose it.
Compliance guidelines give you the structure you need to build and keep a good reputation.
Work with a fractional CMO like Harford Designs and let our website designers create a legal marketing plan, documenting every step of the process.
