Smarsh®, the leading provider of hosted archiving and compliance solutions for email and electronic communications, is conducting its third annual survey of compliance professionals in the financial services industry on the retention and oversight of electronic communications, including email, instant messaging and social media. The survey will help shed light on the compliance community's concerns and best practices in meeting the electronic recordkeeping, supervision and data protection obligations detailed in regulations such as Rule 17a-4 of the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, NASD Rule 3010, FINRA Rule 4511 and Rule 204-2 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

“The 2012 survey results demonstrated how technology-driven business developments, like the proliferation of mobile devices and the emergence of new communication channels, are creating challenges when it comes to governance and retention,” said Stephen Marsh, CEO and founder of Smarsh. “With regulatory enforcement on the rise, the findings from this year’s survey will provide compliance officers with valuable insight into how their peers are navigating these developments against the backdrop of the evolving compliance landscape.”

Compliance professionals are encouraged to take the survey at www.smarsh.com/compliancesurvey. For each qualified registrant, Smarsh will make a charitable contribution via Smarsh Full Circle, the company’s community service initiative, or provide a $20 Amazon.com Gift Card.

The survey takes approximately 10 minutes to complete, and all answers remain anonymous and will only be analyzed in aggregate. A report of the key findings from the survey will be issued by Smarsh in spring 2013. The 2012 Electronic Communications Compliance Survey Report is also available at www.smarsh.com/compliancesurvey.

About Smarsh

Smarsh® provides hosted solutions for archiving electronic communications, including email, instant messaging and social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Founded in 2001, Smarsh helps organizations manage and enforce flexible, secure and cost-effective compliance and records retention strategies. For more information, visit www.smarsh.com, follow @smarshinc on Twitter or like Smarsh on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SmarshInc.