Regulated firms can record Teams Phone calls in a way that meets MiFID II and FCA recordkeeping rules. But according to Wordwatch, doing so requires far more than pressing record. Compliance depends on a certified recording integration that captures calls in real time under an administrator-controlled policy that users cannot disable.
Each recording must then be preserved in its original format, with a clear chain of custody, and retained for five years under MiFID II Article 16(7). Regulators can extend that period to seven years.
The urgency comes from a shift in how trading desks operate. By 2026, Teams is no longer just a collaboration tool layered over existing telephony on many regulated desks. It has become the telephony itself, carrying conversations that once ran through turrets, PBX lines and dedicated trader handsets.
Because recordkeeping duties apply to the conversation rather than the technology, a trade-related Teams Phone call is subject to the same capture, retention and retrieval rules as one made on a turret.
Microsoft separates two capabilities. Native Teams recording is started by the user, stored in OneDrive and SharePoint, and intended for meeting notes and resolving disputes. Compliance recording is set centrally by administrators, cannot be switched off by users, and relies on certified partner solutions that capture calls through Teams’ calling infrastructure.
Only compliance recording was built with MiFID II and FCA evidential standards in mind, so native recording alone is widely considered inadequate for regulated voice.
Article 16(7) sets out four duties. Firms must record all communications intended to lead to a transaction across every channel, retain them for five to seven years (mirrored by the FCA in SYSC 10A.1), preserve them in an unalterable form and produce them on request in an accessible format. The phrase “intended to lead to a transaction” reaches back into negotiations and relationship conversations, precisely the kind of Teams traffic that resembles routine internal chatter and is most easily missed.
The rule itself is unchanged. The 2024 MiFID II and MiFIR review, often dubbed MiFID III, introduced a consolidated tape, revised transparency, banned payment for order flow and replaced the double volume cap, but left Article 16(7) intact. What has changed is supervision.
In its off-channel communications review published on 7 August 2025, the FCA examined 11 wholesale banks and identified 178 confirmed policy breaches over 12 months, 41% involving director-level staff or above. It also flagged vendor failures, including outages, reconciliation problems and missing data, while stressing that accountability remains with the regulated firm.
Wordwatch argues that a compliant record must be reconciled against call and trade data and sit alongside the wider trader voice estate. Regulators expect one reconstructable thread spanning turret calls, Teams calls, chat and mobile messages. Its commissioned survey found 52% of respondents were not fully capturing trader voice and turrets, and 34% lacked full capture of Zoom or online meetings.
The real test is now whether firms can prove a call was recorded, retrieve it intact and link it to the trade it produced.
Read the full Wordwatch post here.
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