Yes. Business-related email and LinkedIn messages are records that financial professionals have to retain. Broker-dealers keep business communications under SEA Rule 17a-4, for at least three years with the first two easily accessible. SEC-registered advisers keep the communications covered by SEC Rule 204-2 for at least five years, the first two in an appropriate office. The channel does not matter; the content does.
What counts as a business communication
FINRA's position in Regulatory Notice 17-18 is that retention depends on the content of a communication, not the device or platform it was sent from. If a message relates to the firm's business, it is a record, whether it went out by email, LinkedIn, a text, or a chat app. A personal post that has nothing to do with the firm's products or services generally is not.
For a financial professional who prospects, that usually includes:
- Cold emails and follow-ups, and the replies you receive
- LinkedIn connection notes, InMails, and direct message threads about your services
- Posts and comments that promote your practice
- The approvals behind any template that needed one
The same notice adds a practical rule: before a firm lets anyone use a messaging channel for business, it has to be able to retain records of those communications.
Broker-dealers and RIAs keep records under different rules
| Broker-dealers | SEC-registered investment advisers | |
|---|---|---|
| Rule | SEA Rule 17a-4 | SEC Rule 204-2 |
| What is kept | Originals of communications received and copies of communications sent relating to the business, and any approvals of them (17a-4(b)(4)) | A copy of each advertisement (204-2(a)(11)) and specified written communications, such as those about recommendations or advice (204-2(a)(7)) |
| How long | At least 3 years, the first 2 in an easily accessible place | At least 5 years in an easily accessible place, the first 2 in an appropriate office |
| How it is stored | An electronic system meeting 17a-4(f): an audit trail of every change, or write-once storage, plus a backup | Electronic storage is permitted under the rule's conditions |
FINRA Rule 2210(b)(4) points back to 17a-4 for retail and institutional communications, so approved templates follow the same clock. Firms often keep records longer than the minimums, so your firm's policy may be stricter.
LinkedIn specifics
LinkedIn mixes two kinds of content. A profile or a standing post is static: anyone can view it at any time, so for FINRA members it generally sits with retail communications. A live exchange is interactive: Rule 2210's exceptions let firms supervise retail communications posted on an online interactive forum like correspondence, without pre-approval, though they still must be supervised and retained.
Direct messages are the easiest records to lose because they live inside the platform, not your email archive. A business DM is still a record. Likes and shares count too: Regulatory Notice 17-18 treats sharing or liking third-party content about you as adopting it, which makes it subject to the communication rules.
What a good archive setup looks like
- Captured at the source. Email and LinkedIn are connected to your archive so messages are saved automatically, not forwarded by hand.
- Complete and tamper-evident. Every change is traceable, which is what 17a-4(f) asks of broker-dealer systems.
- Searchable and producible. You can find and export a conversation quickly when a regulator or your compliance team asks.
- Approvals kept with the message. Who signed off a template and when sits next to the template itself.
- Reviewable for supervision. Your compliance team can sample and review what went out.
- A rule for channels you cannot capture: don't use them for business.
Common gaps
- Texts and chat apps. A quick text to a prospect from a personal phone is a business communication if it is about your services, and most firms cannot capture it. That is why many firms ban those channels for business outright.
- Screenshots as an archive. A folder of screenshots is not complete, searchable, or tamper-evident.
- Deleted threads. Clearing a LinkedIn inbox does not end the obligation to keep what was in it.
- Departing team members. Records belong to the firm. Capture happens while the person is there, not when they leave.
Questions to ask your archiving vendor
- Which channels do you capture today: email, LinkedIn messages, posts, texts?
- Is capture automatic, or does someone have to forward or export?
- How do you meet SEA Rule 17a-4(f) for broker-dealer records?
- Can we search, export, and produce a full conversation quickly?
- How do approvals and supervisory reviews get stored next to the messages?
Where Finterest fits
A record of the outreach you run through Finterest
Finterest records the outreach you send through it so those communications can be retained and reviewed. It supports your firm's recordkeeping and supervision. Finterest supports, and does not replace, your firm's compliance, including its archiving vendor and its judgment on what must be kept.
Sources: SEA Rule 17a-4, SEC Rule 204-2, FINRA Rule 2210, Regulatory Notice 17-18.
Last reviewed October 2026. Finterest supports, and does not replace, your firm's compliance. General information, not legal advice.