Understanding Expert Transcript Library Compliance, with Sean Farrell, CCO of Stream by AlphaSense and MD of IQ-EQ

Episode Summary 

Expert interview transcript libraries are the easiest way to access primary research, which fuels better decisions for both investors and corporate professionals. But how are compliance issues resolved both on the library side, and on the client side?

In this episode, we spoke with Sean Farrell, Chief Compliance Officer at Stream by AlphaSense, the market’s leading library of proprietary expert interview transcripts. Sean has extensive experience in the area, including work as an examiner in the New York office of the SEC, Chief Compliance Officer at large asset managers, as well as a compliance consultant. 

Sean covers in detail the pre- and post-call reviews, meeting the highest standards of the world’s largest funds, client-level compliance workflows, compliance around direct calls with experts from the library, and how to screen out bad actors. 

Guest-at-a-Glance

💡 Name: Sean Farrell

💡 What he does: He's the CCO of Stream by AlphaSense and MD of IQ-EQ.

💡 Company: Stream by AlphaSense

💡 Noteworthy: Sean has over 20 years of experience with the major US securities regulator, the SEC, some of the most well-known asset managers, and as a consultant. 

💡 Where to find Sean: LinkedIn

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Key Insights 

⚡ Achieving “highest common denominator” compliance is of paramount importance. Because of the nature of expert interviews and unique insights into company details, highest level compliance is key. Sean says, "The scrutiny's really very heavy as prospective subscribers complete very impressive due diligence processes on us, and it can be really tough to go through that crucible from time to time, but it's very satisfying from a professional perspective when that prospective client achieves happiness with the robustness of our compliance program."

⚡ Standardized, multi-layered processes are key. No single transcript is more important than the integrity of the entire library. Sean explains, "We have an automated workflow for this; so, no transcripts can move outside of the pre-designated workflow. The compliance review team is reviewing each recording and transcription. As I mentioned, nothing can make it to the library without affirmative compliance approval. So it'll just sit in the queue until we approve it or kill it. It can't move past that. We make compliance edits to remove information that doesn't meet our compliance standards. And sometimes we do have to kill a transcript because it just can't be cured no matter how much compliance editing you do."

⚡ Bad actors tend to stay away from recorded calls. As the memories of the 2009-2013 period have faded, there are bad actors looking to monetize material non-public information. Sean says, "The intentional bad actors avoid platforms where their calls are being recorded. They don't provide consent to have their calls recorded. And, of course, then a call won't occur with them on our platform. The act of recording is such a significant and powerful deterrent to those bad actors; it just keeps them off the platform."