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Unleashing Creativity in Financial Services Marketing While Staying Compliant

In the heavily regulated world of financial services, marketers often find themselves walking a tightrope: how do you create bold, differentiated campaigns while staying firmly within compliance lines? At a recent FCS webinar titled “Coloring Inside the Lines: Marketing Boldly While Remaining Compliant,” leaders from Bank of America, Invesco, Jennison Associates, and Integreon shared how marketing and compliance can be collaborative allies—not adversaries. Here’s what we learned: 1. Bring Compliance in Early—and Often Tip: Involve compliance as soon as campaign ideation begins—not after design is finalized. Mari Lee, SVP, Marketing of Bank of America said it best: “My secret sauce is to involve compliance early, often, and all throughout.” Getting input from compliance during the planning phase helps surface potential roadblocks early and creates time for creative workarounds, reducing last-minute rewrites and delays. 2. Build a Collaborative Relationship Tip: View compliance as a strategic partner, not a gatekeeper. Compliance shouldn’t be the “department of no,” said Keye Chang, Sr. Compliance Officer, Invesco. Instead, he encourages marketing teams to think of compliance as their co-pilot, helping them get creative ideas over the line. “The best outcomes happen when we understand the destination and work together on how to get there—without regulatory trouble.” 3. Communicate Constantly and Transparently Tip: Set up regular check-ins, share editorial calendars, and create shared visibility into review queues. Katherine Boylan, SVP, Director of Integrated Marketing, Jennison Associates emphasized the value of transparency and routine. Her team uses shared tools like the compliance software, Red Oak, to track content reviews and timelines. They also maintain live editorial calendars and documentation around compliance guidelines to keep everyone aligned. Chang and his colleagues publish and share a regular newsletter on financial services regulations that Invesco marketers should keep in mind when creating campaigns. 4. Use Technology to Streamline Workflows Tip: Invest in approval and workflow tools that bring visibility and efficiency to marketing-compliance processes. Whether it’s Red Oak, a MAP (Marketing Approval Portal), or another system, having a platform that connects marketing, legal, and compliance teams can dramatically improve speed and accuracy. Boylan also uses templated content for quarterly materials, reducing repetitive work and freeing up time for innovation. 5. Be Bold—With Guardrails Tip: Bold marketing is possible when paired with thoughtful compliance collaboration. Lee recommends looking outside the financial services category for inspiration for new marketing ideas. She also gave an example of how she pushed the envelope this year by creating dynamic data chart visualizations for one of her bank’s thought leadership content offerings. Her approach to getting compliance on board with something new? Start conversations even earlier than you think you should, show strawman mockups early, include legal, compliance, and registered principal experts and collaborate with them often and all throughout your planning process. 6. Embrace “Creative Compliance” Tip: Encourage compliance teams to offer alternatives instead of blanket rejections. Chang likened compliance to helping marketing color inside the lines—with the right tools. Instead of saying “no,” his team often suggests, “Try this instead.” In some cases, they’re even applying creativity to compliance communications by producing TikTok-style training videos to demystify regulatory concepts for internal teams in fun, digestible ways. 7. Look Ahead: AI and Regulatory Trends Tip: Prepare now for evolving regulations—especially around performance marketing and artificial intelligence. Panelists agreed: AI is both an opportunity and a risk. From speeding up internal workflows to creating images and content, tools like Norm AI are under exploration. But all agreed: AI must be used responsibly, with governance frameworks, transparency, and human oversight at every step. Final Thought: Creativity and Compliance Aren’t Mutually Exclusive The most successful marketing teams don’t fight compliance—they invite them in as early allies. As Chang reminded us (with a nod to Finding Nemo), “Compliance is not food. We’re friends.” By fostering mutual respect, aligning goals, and planning ahead, marketing professionals can boldly break through the noise—while still coloring inside the lines.

CSR Report 2025

Our 2025 CSR Report highlights our unwavering commitment to the communities and charities that improve the lives of many people worldwide. For over 25 years, Integreon has prided itself on initiatives focusing on three key pillars: Education, Healthcare, and the Environment. To learn more about our global CSR efforts, read the full report below: Read the full report

Best Practices for Cyber Incident Prevention for Law Firms

This is Part 1 of a 2-part series titled The Complete Guide to Reducing Cyber Incident Response Costs in the Legal Industry. Download the guide here. In our global, digital-first economy, cyberattacks are no longer isolated incidents targeting large organizations. They are a very real threat to businesses of all types and sizes, and law firms are a common target of cyber criminals. It is not difficult to see why law firms are often targets of cyber crime. The information collected by firms – from trade secrets, intellectual property, merger, and acquisition details to personally identifiable information and attorney-client privileged data – is particularly attractive to cyber criminals. The American Bar Association (ABA) reports that 42% of law firms with 100 or more employees have experienced a data breach. What often gets underestimated is the cost of recovering from a cyber attack. A recent IBM report found the global average cost of a data breach in 2024 was $4.8 million – a 10% increase over last year and the highest total ever. How can law firms better safeguard their data and fortify their systems to help prevent cyber attacks from occurring? There are three primary areas law firms can focus on to safeguard against cyber threats. 1. Firmwide Best Practices Creating clear policies for employees and contractors to follow when using communications is one step to take. Many law firms are doing this. As of 2024, law firms with policies in place to govern employee behavior was as follows: 55% – Email use 51% – Internet use 50% – Computer acceptable use 50% – Remote access 44% – Social media Source: ABA There are several technical ways to strengthen your firm’s defense against threats. Control network access by establishing clear permissions and limiting entry points to critical systems. The security boundary should be as small and as controlled as practical to minimize the attack surface available to hackers. Set up firewalls to act as a first line of defense that can block unauthorized access and help monitor incoming and outgoing traffic. Use multifactor authentication (MFA) to add an extra layer of protection. This requires users to validate their identity through a second source, such as a code or biometric scan. (While a free service, the ABA reports only 54% of firms have MFA in use.) Apply network segmentation to enhance security by dividing the network into smaller sections, helping to contain potential breaches and minimize damage. Put active threat intelligence and regular vulnerability testing into place. 2. Employee Best Practices According to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, 68% of all breaches involve human error, from phishing clicks to misconfigured security settings. Employees must be educated in how to maintain good digital hygiene. Integreon’s Chief Technology Officer, John Wei, agrees. “Defending against cyber threats requires a highly collaborative approach, involving not just a select few cybersecurity professionals, but everyone across the organization,” says Wie. Here are just a few important habits that should be included in your new hire onboarding and ongoing employee education efforts. Avoid reusing passwords across multiple accounts to minimize the risk of unauthorized access. Limit device access to only trusted individuals. Sharing devices with others can expose sensitive information. Use only secure Wi-Fi networks to help prevent potential security breaches and unauthorized access to personal and other data. Report any suspicious email activity, as phishing emails can be extremely sophisticated. According to an FBI report, cybercriminals stole approximately $2.9 billion through business email compromise (BEC) frauds, with law firms among the most common targets. Read Here 3. Detection and Response Automation Best Practices Detection and response automation is revolutionizing how firms address cybersecurity threats. In fact, according to IBM, AI-driven security automation saves companies $2.2 million per breach by cutting response times and improving containment. Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platforms can monitor and analyze log data from various systems. These systems detect suspicious activity in real time and allow teams to quickly mitigate risks. Automated incident response tools take this a step further by eliminating the delays that come with manual intervention. If a threat is detected, these tools can immediately isolate compromised systems, block malicious traffic, or trigger other predefined actions to contain and neutralize the risk. Machine learning-based security solutions further enhance detection capabilities, leveraging AI to identify advanced threats and anomalies. These systems learn over time, adapting to the normal behavior of a network and flagging deviations that could indicate a breach. In the second blog of this two-part series, we will discuss how to control cyber incident costs once a cyber attacks has occurred. Read the full guide here What’s included: Best practices: Cyber Incident Preventions Controlling Cyber Incident Response Costs Download the guide

Consero Legal Operations Forum

Leesburg, Virginia – July 14-16, 2025 This two-day event includes active panel discussions and breakout sessions, and is designed for legal operations professionals interested in leveraging new practices and tools to stay competitive and lead transformative change. Integreon’s Diane Homolak will facilitate a panel discussion with Audrey F.-Elliott, Twilio; Rachel P., Amrize and Megan Wayman, Savage on “Legal Operations in M&A: Steering Through Complexity.” Event Details

The L Suite Legal Ops x GC Offsite

Sonoma California – July 15-17, 2025 Legal leaders today must be more than legal experts, they must be systems thinkers, culture builders, and strategic operators. This exclusive Offsite will celebrate the legal professionals who are not just adapting to business demands, but shaping them. You’ll explore how legal ops and GC-operators are accelerating innovation, embedding agility, and becoming essential change agents across their organizations. Whether you’re launching a new initiative, driving AI adoption, or optimizing for speed and scale, this Offsite will equip you with strategies to amplify your influence and drive action. You’ll hear from bold thinkers and operators making high-impact decisions every day. Join us for 3 days in sunny Sonoma and help ignite what’s next for legal leadership and operations. Join the Waitlist

On-Demand Webinar: Legal Ops: Top Challenges and KPIs

In this hour-long webinar produced by the Blickstein Group, contracts solutions experts, including Diane Homolak, VP, Technology Solutions at Integreon, discuss how legal ops can best take advantage of disruptive technologies to improve operations and save time and cost. Learn more about Integreon’s Contracts Solutions here. Watch now

Coloring Inside the Lines: Marketing Boldly While Remaining Compliant

Join us and our partner, the Financial Communications Society (FCS), on Wednesday, July 23, for a free virtual event on how to foster creativity and new ideas while staying inside regulatory boundaries. Whether you are a marketing executive, compliance officer or communications strategist, this webinar will uncover insights and strategies to help you navigate the ins and outs of financial marketing with confidence and creativity. The panel will bring together senior leaders from both marketing and compliance at top financial institutions to discuss and share real-world strategies, success stories, and lessons learned. Register Now Our panelists include: Mari Lee, SVP – Data, Digital Global Marketing, Bank of America Keye Chang, Compliance Manager, Invesco Catherine Ostheimer, Vice President of Marketing, Integreon additional panelist to be announced Register now to join us for an engaging conversation and learn how cross-functional collaboration, smart processes, and the right tools can unlock creativity, without compromising on compliance.