Regulations for BusinessES

What are you required to provide by Law in the UK?

Whether you are a financial services organisation, an employer looking to comply with flexible working regulations, or a company who takes credit card payments over the phone - VTSL will help ensure that you are compliant with today's legal requirements. 

Click on the relevant subject to the right to learn more, or contact us to speak to one of our experienced advisors.

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What is the law for financial services organisations regarding telephone calls?

The current version of MiFID & COBs regulations say that telephone conversations of individuals directly involved in trading need to be recorded. As of January 3rd 2018, MiFID II has come into force. This now broadens the scope considerably to include anyone involved in the advice chain that may result in a trade.  Companies that previously needed to provide call recording under the old MiFID regulations now also need to pay attention to the changes in the regulations. In line with the new regulations are much tougher penalties, enforced by the FCA.

What exactly is required & how does VTSL deliver?

Call recording is required for any company involved in financial advice leading to a trade or any trading (i.e. stocks, futures, bonds etc.)

VTSL have a dedicated call recording solution which can be deployed on a per user basis to avoid any unnecessary costs to record staff who do not need to have the service.

Call recordings must now be archived for 5 years (and in some cases 7 years)

Companies that are already recording calls only needed to store calls for 6 months. This has now been extended. VTSL’s Call Recording Unlimited product provides unlimited storage of calls, all of which are easily downloaded by the customer.

Regulations are now the same across all EU countries

VTSL can offer services across multinational destinations.

Calls must be stored in a durable medium

VTSL’s infrastructure is located in highly secure data centres located in London. All original recordings are stored in a secure format which is not able to be altered or tampered with. Only VTSL have access to the original recordings.

Call Recordings must be readily accessible

Through VTSL’s interactive portal, all calls can be searched on a variety of criteria, including, time, date, number dialled, number received or the extension number of the the staff member. Access to the recordings can be limited so they can only be accessed by an authorised administrator or permission can be given to individual members of staff.

Compliance audits

Comprehensive reports can be downloaded which can be filtered by the relevant search criteria  giving all the relevant details as well as show whether a call has been recorded or not.

Call recordings should include mobiles and anyone working from home or other locations away from the office

Using either VTSL’s Mobile Twinning or Mobile Softphone applications, calls can be routed via the telephone system and not directly to the mobile, meaning that calls will be recorded.

What security is required if we take card payments over the phone?

The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC) was launched on 7th September, 2006 to manage the ongoing evolution of the Payment Card Industry (PCI) security standards with a focus on improving payment account security throughout the transaction process.

There are 4 levels of compliance which largely refer to the level of financial transactions that a company make on an annual basis.

With regard to companies that take card details over the phone, there are some strict requirements that state that card details must not be recorded especially when CVV are also taken. The regulations also cover the ability to erase and provide documented proof where details are accidentally recorded.

Breaches of the regulation can lead to fines of between £5000 to £100000 per month where the ‘merchant’ is found to be at fault. Even more detrimental to businesses that rely on the ability to take card payments, maybe the removal of the service from the issuing bank.

How can VTSL help?

Call Recording

VTSL’s call recording service offers the ability for the user to ‘pause’ the recording. Therefore when taking card details the recording is ‘muted’ to ensure compliance with the PCI DSS directives.

Automated Card Service

VTSL work with the Card Easy service, which does not require callers giving out card information. Instead when the card details need to be taken they are entered into the keypad of the phone. The details are sent directly to the payment software - the member of staff taking the call never has access to the card details.

Secure Extension

VTSL’s call recording service is deployed on a per user basis. As such it is possible to set up extensions that are never recorded, so that a caller can be transferred to a ‘non-recorded’ extension where the card details can be taken. This will ensure that no card details are ever recorded.

What kind of flexible working are employees legally allowed to request?

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, every employee has the statutory right to ask to work flexibly after 26 weeks employment service. An employee can only make a statutory request once in any 12 month period. 

Flexible working includes: job sharing, working from home, flexi-hours, compressed hours and more.

How does VTSL's service help?

Working from a fixed remote location

VTSL have a number of features including Mobile Twinning (individual and group), softphones and the ability to deploy a fixed telephone at a home or remote office. This will allow staff to work as seamlessly from a remote site as they can from the office.

Working on the move

The mobile twinning and softphone applications will also work on the move. This allows staff  to arrive and leave the office with a great degree of flexibility. They could potentially continue to work on a train journey for example.

One Number Scheme

VTSL can provide a single geographic number that can be set to ring on a number of user devices (i.e. deskphone, PC, smartphone or tablet). By having this single number, both internal and external calls can reach the employee regardless of time and location. Dialling out will also give out the office caller ID. This means that employee can also potentially use their own devices to assist them to work flexible hours.

Effective Management

One of the biggest challenges for an employer in the area of remote working is ensuring that productivity is maintained. By deploying VTSL’s services, it ensures that all activity is routed through VTSL’s core hosted telephony service. This will then allow management to use the Web Portal to view when staff are logged in and provide detailed breakdown of call activity. Call recording can also be added as an extra layer.