Consumer financial services providers, including mortgage lenders, are rightly concerned about whether their social media use puts their organizations at risk. In response to this issue, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) issued guidance for social media risk management in a policy statement, but the guidance is short on practical advice.^[1]

Since then, financial regulatory agencies haven’t done much to clarify compliance parameters for corporate social media messages. There are exceptions, though. For example, the New York Banking Department’s, Mortgage Banker Guidebook, declares licensed mortgage bankers must adopt social media policies that explain the types of information may be posted, and the penalties that apply to violations. The Texas Commissioner of Savings and Mortgage Lending also issued best practices for social media use by mortgage lenders. But for the most part, there’s a vacuum where one might expect regulatory compliance information.

To help fill in the gaps, in my December 8, 2016 Smarsh Social Media Compliance for Consumer Financial Companies webinar, I identified private (non-government) sources that offer social media compliance help for mortgage lenders. Many of these are low-cost or free. Here are some of my favorites*:
 

Guides:

• Social Media Guide for Financial Institutions, by Heather Hansche & Lindsay Henry, Chapman and Cutler LLP.
  • This free, comprehensive introduction to the risks of social media use includes a step-by-step approach to conduct a social media risk assessment. It lists laws with social media compliance implications, and includes a checklist of what should be included in a corporate social media policy. It also includes helpful suggestions for further reading .

• Social Media: The New Frontier of Legal Risk Management, by Arvin Maskin and Joshua Schlegner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP.
  • This free guide includes useful social media advice for companies, with specific examples of do’s and don’ts for responding to negative social media messages.

Newsletters and Bulletins:

• Social Media Law Bulletin, from Norton Rose Fulbright
  • The free bulletin includes summarized information about recent court decisions, which are neatly organized into categories.

• Socially Aware blog, from the law firm Morrison & Foerster.
  • The free blog provides an international social media legal perspective summarizing legal cases and developments related to social media use. Posts often include links to additional background information.

White Papers

• Comprehensive Report for Managing Social Media Risk, by Accenture.
  • This free white paper identifies top social media risk categories. It also includes practical examples of how inadvertent disclosure of proprietary corporate data can follow casual social media use, resulting in loss of valuable intellectual property.

Books and Media Articles

• Social Media: Legal Risk & Corporate Policy, by Adam Cohen.
  • This book includes extensive social media policy examples, and is available on Amazon.com for $99.

• 9 Best Practices Practices for Using Social Media Compliantly, by Joanna Belbey, a contributor to Forbes.com.
  • This article identifies a handful of best practices in social media for the financial services industry (primarily securities professionals), and is also relevant to mortgage lenders.

Webinars

• Smarsh Events and Webinars, from Smarsh.
  • Smarsh webinars address compliance concerns for mortgage lenders and other industries. Webinars are free and tackle issues such as managing enterprise risk from electronic communications, handling compliance issues caused by text messages, and applying record-retention rules in a mobile communications environment.

Blogs

• The Smarsh blog provides regular, content-rich posts from legal experts.
  • Issues covered include litigation risk related to recordkeeping, electronic communications archiving failures, and how to extract relevant social media communications data for regulatory exams.

• Chris Boudreaux’s Social Media Governance page and blog.
  • This resource includes links to corporate social media policies, in the form of a social media policy database, and sample templates for social media policy discussion, creation and implementation.

* Not intended as legal advice. Readers should consult with, and seek the advice of their own counsel with respect to any individual situation that involves the material and resources contained in this blog

^[1] “Social Media: Consumer Compliance Risk Management Guidance,” FFIEC, Dec. 2013.