Financial services · checked October 24, 2026
Project management software for financial services
Project management software for financial services has to do two jobs a general tool skips: keep a defensible record of every business communication your people (and your AI agents) produce, and let a supervisor see and stop work before it leaves the building. Kavanah is an agentic project management platform built around those two jobs. It copies outbound email and in-app conversation to your archive, keeps an immutable audit log, runs deals and investor outreach in a Deal Room, and holds every AI action to a policy a person wrote. This page sets out what regulators actually require [1][3], what to ask any vendor, and how Kavanah answers, with a dated comparison against monday.com, Smartsheet, Asana and Wrike.
#Why it is different
A task board is a books-and-records system the moment your team talks in it
FINRA members must preserve the records the Exchange Act requires, for at least six years where no other period is set, in a format that complies with SEA Rule 17a-4 [1]. Rule 17a-4(b)(4) reaches the originals of all communications received and copies of all communications sent relating to the business, for three years, the first two in an easily accessible place [2]. A comment on a deal task, a chat thread about a client, or an email an AI agent drafts and sends is a communication. Most project management tools were never designed to treat it as one.
Regulators have shown what that gap costs. In August 2024 the SEC announced charges against 26 firms, with combined civil penalties of about $392.75 million, for failing to maintain and preserve business communications sent through unapproved, off-channel methods, and for failing to supervise the people who sent them [5]. In January 2025 it added twelve more firms, including large private-equity advisers, for $63.1 million [6]. FINRA's 2026 oversight report lists the same findings at member firms: business text messages not retained or reviewed, non-email electronic communications on approved channels not archived, and vendors not checked for whether they could meet recordkeeping requirements [7].
AI agents raise the stakes. FINRA says its rules are technology neutral and keep applying when a firm uses generative AI, including features embedded in third-party software [9]. Its 2026 report names the agent risks plainly: agents acting without human validation and approval, acting beyond the user's intended scope and authority, and multi-step reasoning that is hard to trace. It asks firms to consider where to keep a human in the loop, how to track agent actions and decisions, and how to set guardrails that limit what an agent can do [8]. A tool that bolts an assistant onto a board, with no permission model and no log of what the assistant did, hands the supervision problem straight to compliance.
#What to require
What to require from a project management tool in financial services
Use this as a buyer's checklist. None of it makes a tool 'FINRA compliant' (FINRA does not certify software), but each item maps to an obligation the firm carries: books and records [1][2], supervision [3], communications approval [4] and data protection [10].
01
Every communication reaches your archive
Outbound email sent from the tool, and messages people post inside it, should be copied to the archive you already use, automatically, with no per-user opt-out. The SEC's off-channel cases were about messages that never reached the record [5].
02
Edits and deletes do not destroy the record
Rule 17a-4(f) asks an electronic system to keep a complete time-stamped audit trail of modifications and deletions, or to store records in non-rewriteable form [2]. A tool that overwrites a comment in place should at least send the original wording to the archive first.
03
An audit log nobody can edit
Security-relevant actions (sign-ins, permission changes, exports, settings changes) belong in an append-only log you can export for an examiner or your own surveillance.
04
Approvals that name the approver and the date
Rule 2210 requires the record of a retail communication to include the name of the registered principal who approved it and the date of approval [4]. Your approval step should capture both without anyone retyping them.
05
AI agents you can scope, stop and audit
Per agent: the set of actions it may take, an approval step in front of anything that leaves the firm, and a log of what it did. That is what FINRA's 2026 agent guidance asks firms to consider [8].
06
Identity controls your security team expects
SAML or OIDC single sign-on, enforced multi-factor authentication, directory sync for leavers, and access scoped per project, so a deal team's files are not visible to the whole firm.
07
Vendor evidence you can file
Ask for the vendor's SOC 2 report (an independent CPA examination of controls over security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality or privacy) [11], its sub-processor list, and where data is processed. Regulation S-P now expects firms to oversee service providers, who must report a breach within 72 hours [10].
08
Deal and client work in the same place as the tasks
Pipeline stages, investor status, outreach and signed documents tied to the deal they belong to, so the record of a raise is not split across a CRM, a spreadsheet and an inbox.
#How Kavanah does it
How Kavanah meets it
Each item below describes behaviour in the shipping product. Kavanah is not your system of record and does not replace your archiver or your written supervisory procedures; it is built to get everything to the archive and to give supervisors a control point. Your firm remains responsible for its own compliance.
Compliance archiving: an archive copy that cannot be skipped
Turn on compliance mode, enter your archive address, and every email sent from Kavanah (the inbox, scheduled and recurring mail, AI-agent sends and Kavanah's own reports) carries an archive BCC. If the copy cannot be added, the send is refused rather than sent unarchived. Only the workspace owner can change the setting, and turning it off is recorded as a critical audit event.
Learn moreA journal of what people say in the app
Chat, discussions, task comments, client-portal messages, meeting chat, call transcripts, document comments, approvals, attachments and AI-agent conversations are journaled by database triggers into an append-only store. Edits keep the previous wording. A daily digest delivers the entries, with files attached and a SHA-256 hash chain, to your archive address. Retention runs from one to ten years (six by default) with legal hold.
An immutable audit log you can export
Security-relevant actions are written to an audit log whose immutability is enforced by database triggers, and it exports as CSV or JSON from Settings.
Learn moreAI employees with a job description they cannot exceed
Each AI employee runs inside the capability scopes you assign. Autonomy has four levels, from off to full; in safe mode an agent can never send email, post externally or delete anything. Action policies allow, budget-cap, park for approval or block whole categories (external sends, finance writes, destructive actions, AI spend), and a category with no policy parks for approval by default.
Learn moreAn action ledger, undo, and no self-granted authority
Every agent action is logged to an action ledger, and reversible actions carry an undo. An agent cannot be the source of an authorization: a document an agent writes granting itself or another agent permission is refused at the write. The KVN charter lets you write down work the agent must refuse.
Learn moreDeal Room: pipeline, investors and outreach in one record
Custom deal stages, per-deal investor status, outreach cadences that stop on reply and respect your suppression list, a stage-based revenue forecast, an investor funnel that releases ranked firms in tranches, an issuer funnel for prospecting clients, and a data-room analyzer whose insights are kept only when the quote behind them is found in your own files. Pipelines can sync with a Google Sheet.
E-signature and tracked documents on the deal
Through the XDocs integration, send envelopes for signature and publish tracked links, with every signature and read landing on the right deal; envelope sends are journaled for the archive. DocSend view events that reach Kavanah are recorded on the deal too.
Approvals with a named reviewer
Task approvals record who submitted, who reviewed, the decision (approved, rejected or changes requested) and when it was reviewed. Clients can approve or reject in the client portal, and those decisions are journaled as well.
Identity and data controls
SAML 2.0 and OIDC single sign-on and SCIM directory sync (Enterprise plan), TOTP and passkey MFA that a workspace can require, per-project and per-task access control, and AES-256 encryption at rest with per-workspace keys for credentials. Production data is processed in the United States. A SOC 2 Type II observation period is underway; no SOC 2 report exists yet, and the security page says so.
Learn more#In practice
Four financial-services workflows, step by step
Placement agent or investment bank deal team
A capital raise, from data room to signed subscription
- Create the deal in the Deal Room, link its data-room folder, and run the data-room analyzer to draft the investment profile from your own documents.
- Start an investor campaign: Kavanah ranks investor firms against the profile and releases them in tranches, so the team works the best fits first.
- Enroll the approved contacts in a cadence. Outbound steps carry the archive BCC, stop on reply, and skip anyone on the suppression list.
- Move each investor through your own statuses as they respond; the forecast updates from stage baselines without a model call.
- Send the subscription documents for signature through XDocs from the deal; an automation rule on the document-signed trigger can move the deal to its next stage.
Chief compliance officer and registered principals
Supervising outbound mail and agent drafts at a broker-dealer
- The owner turns on compliance mode with the firm's archive address and sets retention to match the firm's schedule.
- Set the AI employees that touch clients to safe mode, or set the external-send policy to approve, so every agent email waits for a person.
- A principal reviews parked messages, edits or approves them; the approval and the sent copy both reach the archive.
- Route retail communications through a task approval so the approver and approval date are recorded, as Rule 2210 expects [4].
- Export the audit log for the periodic review your written supervisory procedures call for [3].
Registered investment adviser operations team
Onboarding a new advisory client
- Create the client and an onboarding project from your project template; assign the checklist tasks across the team.
- Invite the client to the client portal to upload documents and answer requests; their uploads and messages are journaled.
- Use per-project access so only the client's service team can see the files.
- Set recurring tasks for the annual review and account updates so they reappear on schedule.
- Collect the client's sign-off as a portal decision, recorded with the rest of the file.
Product, engineering and risk at a regulated fintech
A fintech shipping product under audit
- Plan the release on the board with a task approval gate that risk must clear before launch.
- Give the engineering AI employee only the tasks and GitHub scopes, so it cannot reach email, CRM or finance tools.
- Write the out-of-bounds work into the KVN charter so the agent refuses tasks that would break it.
- Keep design discussion in Kavanah's discussions and chat, which are journaled once compliance mode is on.
- Hand the auditor the audit-log export and the action ledger's record of what each agent did in the release window.
#Compared
Kavanah, monday.com, Smartsheet, Asana and Wrike compared for financial services
Each competitor cell describes only what that vendor's own public page said when we checked it on October 24, 2026: monday.com's guide to task software for finance [12], Smartsheet's Trust Center [13], Asana's financial-services page [14] and Wrike's financial-services page [15]. "Not described" means the page we checked did not say, not that the product lacks it. Kavanah cells describe the product as it ships.
| Criterion | Kavanah | monday.com | Smartsheet | Asana | Wrike |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Security attestations named | SOC 2 Type II observation period underway; no report yet | SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR [12] | SOC 2, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, FedRAMP [13] | FedRAMP environment via Asana Gov [14] | AICPA, BSI and CSA STAR logos, not explained [15] |
| Audit trail | Immutable audit log enforced by database triggers; CSV or JSON export | Tracks changes to projects, tasks and financial data [12] | Exportable logs; Event Reporting covers 100+ event types [13] | AI teammate keeps a running log of decisions [14] | Not described |
| Archive copy of email and in-app messages | Archive BCC on every send (send refused if it cannot be added); journal of chat, comments, portal and agent messages | Not described | Not described | Not described | Not described |
| Approvals | Task approvals with reviewer, decision and time; agent actions parked for approval by policy | Approval workflows before budget changes take effect [12] | Not described | Track approvals and compliance reviews [14] | Requests and Approvals template [15] |
| AI agents and their controls | AI employees with scopes, safe mode, per-category action policies, action ledger and undo | AI risk detection; agents not mentioned [12] | AI actions explained, audited and traced; no training of third-party models on customer data [13] | Four AI Teammates for financial services; admin controls and human oversight [14] | Connects to Copilot, Gemini, Claude, ChatGPT and Wrike MCP [15] |
| Deal pipeline and investor outreach | Deal Room with stages, investor status, cadences, forecast and e-signature | Not described | Not described | Not described | Not described; Salesforce integration via Unito [15] |
| Single sign-on and MFA | SAML 2.0 / OIDC SSO and SCIM (Enterprise); TOTP and passkey MFA | Not described | SAML 2.0 SSO; authenticator MFA admins can require [13] | Not described | Not described |
| Where data is processed | United States | Not described | US, EU or Australia regions [13] | Not described | Not described |
#Questions
Questions buyers ask
- What is the best project management software for financial services?
- The one that fits your obligations, not the one with the most features. For a regulated firm the deciding questions are whether every message sent from or posted in the tool reaches your archive, whether the audit log is immutable and exportable, whether approvals record who approved and when, and whether any AI agent can be scoped, stopped and audited. Kavanah is built around those four; general tools such as monday.com, Smartsheet, Asana and Wrike are strong at planning but their public pages do not describe archiving outbound messages.
- Is Kavanah FINRA compliant?
- FINRA does not certify software, so no project management tool is FINRA compliant on its own. Kavanah provides controls that support a firm's obligations: an archive copy on every email it sends, a journal of in-app communications delivered to your archive, an immutable audit log, recorded approvals and supervised AI agents. Your firm stays responsible for its written supervisory procedures, its archive and its compliance.
- Does Kavanah replace our email archiving vendor?
- No. Kavanah is not a system of record and does not provide WORM storage. It sends a copy of everything to the archive address you configure, so the archiver you already use keeps the record and its regulatory attestations.
- Are task comments and chat messages records under SEC Rule 17a-4?
- If they relate to the firm's business, they can be. Rule 17a-4(b)(4) covers communications received and sent relating to the business, kept for three years. That is why Kavanah journals chat, discussions, task comments, portal messages and agent conversations, including the previous wording when someone edits a message.
- Can AI agents be used at a broker-dealer?
- FINRA's guidance is that its rules are technology neutral and still apply when a firm uses generative AI, and its 2026 oversight report asks firms to consider human-in-the-loop oversight, tracking of agent actions and guardrails on what agents can do. In Kavanah each AI employee runs inside assigned scopes, can be held to safe mode, and has its external sends parked for a person to approve by default.
- Does Kavanah have a SOC 2 report?
- Not yet. Kavanah's SOC 2 Type II observation period is underway and the report will be shared under NDA once the audit completes. Kavanah does not describe itself as SOC 2 certified. The security page lists the controls in place today, including encryption, tenant isolation and the audit log.
- Does Kavanah support SSO, SCIM and multi-factor authentication?
- Yes. SAML 2.0 and OIDC single sign-on and SCIM directory sync are on the Enterprise plan, and TOTP and passkey (WebAuthn) multi-factor authentication is available to every workspace, which can require it for all members.
- Can we use Kavanah as a CRM for a capital raise?
- Yes. The Deal Room holds deal stages, per-deal investor status, outreach cadences that stop on reply, a revenue forecast, an investor funnel that releases ranked firms in tranches, and e-signature through XDocs. It can sync a pipeline with a Google Sheet if your team still works in one.
- Where is our data stored?
- Production customer data is processed in the United States on Vercel and a managed Neon Postgres database. Enterprise customers with specific residency requirements can discuss options with the Kavanah team.
- How much does Kavanah cost for a finance team?
- Basic is $3 per seat per month and Pro is $6, each with unlimited seats and a shared monthly allowance of AI credits; AI work beyond that is metered in credits. Enterprise, which includes SSO, is priced on request. Compliance archiving is not tied to a paid tier.
#Go deeper
One question at a time
- Off-Channel Communications and Your Project Management Tool: What SEC Rule 17a-4 Means for Comments, Chat and AIThe SEC's off-channel cases were about text messages. The same rule reaches the comment thread on your deal board. Here is what the rule says, what examiners keep finding, and what to switch on.
- AI Agents at a Broker-Dealer: Mapping FINRA's 2026 Guidance to Controls You Can Switch OnFINRA's 2026 oversight report names the risks of AI agents in plain language and asks firms to consider four controls. Here is each one, and what it looks like in a working system.
- A FINRA Rule 2210 Approval Workflow You Can Actually EvidenceRule 2210 wants a principal's approval before a retail communication is used, and a record with the approver's name and the date. Here is a workflow that captures both without anyone retyping them.
- Run a Capital Raise Like a Project: From the Data Room to the Form D DeadlineA private placement has a pipeline, a document trail, an outreach programme and a filing deadline. Treat it as one project and the record of the raise assembles itself.
- Regulation S-P's New Deadlines, Run as a Project: 72 Hours, 30 Days, and the Vendors in BetweenThe amended Regulation S-P gives covered firms an incident-response programme to write, a customer-notice clock and a vendor-oversight duty. Each is a project with dates.
- Project Management Software for Financial Services: A Ten-Question Buyer's ChecklistFeature grids will not tell you whether a tool survives an exam. These ten questions will, and they take one demo to answer.
Related reading
- Off-channel communications and your project toolWhat SEC Rule 17a-4 means for task comments, chat and AI-agent email.
- AI agents at a broker-dealerFINRA's 2026 agent guidance mapped to controls you can switch on.
- A FINRA Rule 2210 approval workflowRecord the approving principal and the date without retyping either.
- Run a capital raise like a projectFrom the data room to the Form D deadline, step by step.
- Agentic project managementHow AI agents run project work, and the controls that keep them safe.
- Security overviewEncryption, access control, audit logging and our attestation status.
Sources
- [1] FINRA Rule 4511: General Requirements — FINRA, Current rulebook
- [2] 17 CFR § 240.17a-4: Records to be preserved by certain exchange members, brokers and dealers — Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School, Current text
- [3] FINRA Rule 3110: Supervision — FINRA, Current rulebook
- [4] FINRA Rule 2210: Communications with the Public — FINRA, Current rulebook
- [5] Twenty-Six Firms to Pay More Than $390 Million Combined to Settle SEC's Charges for Widespread Recordkeeping Failures — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, press release 2024-98, 2024
- [6] Twelve Firms to Pay More Than $63 Million Combined to Settle SEC's Charges for Recordkeeping Failures — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, press release 2025-6, 2025
- [7] 2026 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report: Books and Records — FINRA, 2025
- [8] 2026 FINRA Annual Regulatory Oversight Report: GenAI: Continuing and Emerging Trends — FINRA, 2025
- [9] Regulatory Notice 24-09: Generative Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models — FINRA, 2024
- [10] U.S. SEC Adopts Amendments to Reg S-P — Morrison Foerster, 2024
- [11] SOC 2: SOC for Service Organizations — AICPA & CIMA, Current page
- [12] Best task management software for finance project managers — monday.com, 2025
- [13] Smartsheet Trust Center — Smartsheet, Current page
- [14] Asana for financial services — Asana, Current page
- [15] Financial services project management software — Wrike, Current page
Sources and the comparison were checked on October 24, 2026. Product details change; check each vendor's own pages before you decide.
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