New data from Smarsh, the global leader in communications data and intelligence, reveals a growing gap between financial services firms’ commitment to tackling non-financial misconduct (NFM) and employees’ confidence in the systems designed to detect it. Key findings show that:

• 63% of workers say NFM has been taken more seriously at their organisation over the last two years – suggesting cultural progress has been made.
• However, confidence in organisations’ ability to detect instances of NFM has moved in the opposite direction; while 77%1 say they are confident their organisations’ communications monitoring systems can effectively detect NFM, this is down from 81%2 in 2024.
• At the same time, the share of employees who say they are not aware of any such systems has grown – up from 5% in 2024 to 8% in 2026, suggesting awareness of monitoring infrastructure is declining even as regulatory expectations increase.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made NFM a stated supervisory priority, with new guidance making it clear that firms are expected to evidence robust detection and response capabilities, not just policy commitments.

These updated findings reveal a structural problem: while many firms may be strengthening cultural messaging around NFM, some might be falling short on building or communicating the underlying infrastructure to back it up. The gap between intent and capability is where regulatory risk accumulates.

Shaun Hurst, Principal Regulatory Adviser at Smarsh, says: "There is a clear gap between firms' commitments and their ability to detect and address non-financial misconduct in communications. Either that, or they are failing to communicate that they have robust systems in place. Regulatory pressure, combined with the rising volume of AI-generated communications firms must monitor, will only widen this gap.

“Firms should be capturing all relevant communications channels, retaining that data and applying intelligent monitoring to surface conduct risk. Many are already archiving communications for recordkeeping purposes; the opportunity is to extend that infrastructure to detect instances of NFM, all the while, ensuring that employees know this is being done. The FCA expects firms to evidence detection capability, not just policy intent, and that evidence starts with the communications data firms already hold."