Brokerage firms in the US are under increasing pressure from regulators to provide evidence that they have a means to store and retrieve all communication sent and received by electronic means for a minimum of three years.

Regulatory requirements set out by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASI) state that brokers must keep and audit all of their electronic communications for possible retrieval at a later date. This is driving a market for software which can archive and monitor the prolific use of electronic communications at financial institutions.