The AMF publishes a summary of its SPOT inspections on telephone conversation recording at asset management companies

In accordance with the Monetary and Financial Code, asset management companies are subject to a general obligation to record all the services they have provided and all the transactions they have carried out. This obligation includes recording those telephone conversations that may lead to the provision of an investment service or the conclusion of a transaction. 

In order to assess the compliance of the practices put in place by asset management companies, the AMF conducted a series of ‘SPOT’ (Operational and Thematic Supervision of Practices) thematic inspections at five companies with different profiles and sizes. These inspections covered the period from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025. 

The work carried out encompassed the following themes:

• the policy for recording telephone conversations and storing these recordings;
• an analysis of the scope of telephone conversation recording;
• checking the conditions for accessing the recordings, as well as their confidentiality, integrity and storage;
• the information provided to the persons recorded and employee training;
• the permanent and periodic checks carried out on this subject.

The AMF notes that order placement by telephone is decreasing at asset management companies, due to the rise of electronic trading tools. The results of the questionnaire conducted among French asset management companies in the summer of 2025 illustrate this trend: only 19% of respondent asset management companies reported still using the telephone channel. Furthermore, when it is used, it generally represents only a small percentage of the orders transmitted, which can lead to it being considered as a secondary channel.

However, the now marginal use of telephone conversations should not lead to their risks being underestimated. These conversations are subject to specific obligations of recording, storage and traceability, compliance with which relies on operational systems that are often more complex than those applicable to electronic tools which have integral time stamping, archiving and conversation traceability functionalities. Telephone conversation recordings also contain personal data and must, as such, be processed in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Furthermore, the low frequency of telephone use does not necessarily translate into a reduction in risk. On the contrary, the exceptional nature of this channel can contribute to less operational control and an increase in the risk of non-compliance, which justifies asset management companies maintaining a high level of vigilance.

Among the good practices, the AMF identified the following:

• setting the retention period for all telephone conversation recordings at five years, with the possibility of extending this to seven years at the request of the competent authority;
• setting out, in the policy, the functions of the people whose telephone extensions are recorded, giving reasons for recording for each function.
• raising awareness among new employees, upon their arrival, and every year among all asset management company staff of the procedures and operation of telephone conversation recording systems, reminding the relevant persons that their conversations are being recorded; 
• listening to a sample of orders placed by voice each quarter.

Among the poor practices, the AMF noted:

• not collating all the provisions applicable to the telephone conversation recording system into a single policy.
• failing to carry out controls on the installation and use of the application enabling conversation recording by employees who have a mobile phone.
• not stipulating controls explicitly relating to telephone conversation recording in the compliance and internal control plan; 
• having to go through a technical department to access the recordings.