Andray Domise, a fi-nancial advisor for Toron-to-based International Capital Management Inc., instantly saw the commercial potential of Facebook.

Although he has both business and personal Facebook pages, Domise has found that most business visitors show a preference for the personal site. “The environment seems to be a more relaxing one in which to ask me financial questions,” he says. Domise has the support of ICM, which encourages its independent advisors to find new ways to reach clients.

But as more advisors in search of networking opportunities flock to Facebook, the wildly popular social networking Web site, compliance-related questions are proliferating. Can advisors promote their expertise on such sites? Where is the line drawn between the personal and the professional? And how should companies monitor an advisor’s Facebook presence?

So far, some institutions have banned or closely limited their advisors’ business-related Facebook activities; others have not. What is clear is that posting your profile on Facebook can generate business, but also can generate compliance headaches.

Online social networks are nothing new. Sites such as myspace.com, Friendster.com and classmates.com have been around for years. But none have achieved the explosive popularity of Facebook. In only a few years, the technically sophisticated site has become the standard tool for making social connections over the Web. Now, its reach is extending into the world of work; Facebook is attracting users in fields that range from the professions and business to politics looking to boost their recognition factor. Domise, like others, says he is surprised by the number of responses he is getting.

Created in 2004, Facebook was designed as a way for university students to stay connected. Now, more than 90 million active users are plugging in worldwide, and many are listing information of particular interest to business contacts: education levels, current and past employers, job titles. Those business contacts are likewise eager to join the “networks” created by the site, which are potentially powerful marketing tools. Simply by clicking on a “join” icon, anyone with a Facebook log-in can ask to be part of a network maintained by the site.

For instance, anyone can instantly have access to all the employees of a company that have registered as users on a particular Facebook site. Hundreds of people who work at Canadian financial services firms are already listing their places of employment and job titles on Facebook. The Big Six banks alone bring up searches exceeding 500 results, the most that Facebook will show at once.

Corporate pages on Facebook are not unusual, either. Many companies are even coming up with new brands designed specifically for the network. Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada and TD Canada Trust both have Facebook pages, complete with Facebook-savvy names. RBC Bankbook has 3,182 “fans” (members who all share a common interest in and have joined the group page); TD Money Lounge has 13,031 fans.

Facebook is quick, easy and free, and provides so-called “privacy” protection settings that allow users to pick and choose who can access their page and the information that is provided. So, what’s the problem? Well, like many situations created by the Internet, the line between personal and public can quickly get blurred. Suddenly, what appeared to be a friendly overture turns into a compliance minefield.

At this point, it’s often difficult to know what to expect, concedes Karen McGuiness, vice president of compliance for the Mutual Fund Dealers Association of Canada in Toronto. “It depends upon the dealer’s practice, and there have been a few dealers who have looked at social online networks and have prohibited their approved persons from using them for business reasons, because the networks don’t give free and open access to the dealers,” she says. “Given that it is the dealers who are required to supervise the marketing, sales and advertising of approved persons, the dealers are uncomfortable with the fact that it is the advisors themselves who decide who can and cannot see things [on Facebook].”

So far, the Canadian banks appear to have the most restrictive policies. “Employees who can access Facebook from home are allowed to do it for personal use only and cannot give out any financial advice or marketing materials,” says Barbara Timmins of TD Bank Financial Group’s wealth-management corporate communications department in Toronto.

@page_break@Many issues arise from the immense flexibility of the technology that has made Facebook so popular in the first place. For instance, even on a “group” page, with fans and a moderator who can post messages or delete content, members can still privately send messages to one another with no moderator oversight. It’s this area — in which a private social exchange can lead to a business transaction — that makes companies and regulators squirm.

Domise, for one, allows his pages to be public so anyone searching for an advisor can pull up his information. “Some things I still want to remain personal,” he says. “Then, some things need to be accessible for business purposes, which is why the privacy settings are great. You can decide who needs access to specific things.”

His Facebook pages are strictly there to increase his presence in the financial services industry and not to solicit clients. “I want clients to get a better understanding of what I do,” he says, “both professionally and in my spare time.” Domise has plans to link his Facebook page to his company Web site.

But not every advisor has the option to use such links. Natalie Jamison, an investment advisor with Toronto-based RBC Dominion Securities Inc., started her Facebook page a year and a half ago, when the craze really started to build. She saw it as an opportunity for clients and others who might help generate additional business to see her in a more personal light.

And while her page is a personal one with family photos and information, Jamison keeps everything very professional. “Facebook is a huge network connector that allows many friends to look you up,” she says. “But a lot of my clients are people I consider friends, so I have them listed on my contact page.”

Like Domise, Jamison does not solicit clients on her page; soliciting is contrary to her company’s policy. She is also not allowed to provide any branding through her Facebook page, although she does identify herself as a DS advisor.

Still, it seems that many advisors are unclear about what’s permitted by the banks and dealers for which they work, and what’s not. The hundreds of employees who show up under financial institution name searches often have public personal pages that state where they work and what they do; many even provide direct links to their company’s Web site.

That appears contrary to some bank directives. For example, RBC states: “Employees are not permitted to engage in business promotion on social networking sites, such as Facebook, MySpace, blogs, or any other Web site similar in nature because it is not an appropriate way to reach their target audience. ”

Advisors affiliated with DS face similar restrictions. Rina Cortese, a spokesperson for DS, says its advisors “are allowed to promote their businesses through their company Web site, but are not allowed to link it to any Facebook pages or other sites similar to Facebook.”

TD has substantially the same policy; its investment departments, for compliance reasons, must monitor all client communication and marketing material. Advisors with personal pages on Facebook are not allowed to provide any financial advice or marketing materials on it. According to TD, advisors who link their professional Web sites to Facebook are going against branding guidelines and intellectual property rights.

But financial institutions may be facing a revolution they cannot entirely control. Jesse Hirsch, president of Toronto-based Openflows Networks Ltd., a technology-consulting firm, says social online networks are not going away. It’s fear of change, he says, that keeps organizations from embracing them. “If something new like Facebook comes around, rather than engage it and find ways to work with it, they are just going to ignore it,” says Hirsch. “This type of thinking will lead to huge competitive disadvantages. The organizations willing to work with these new media and find profitable, top-quality means of engaging them will be the companies that succeed.”

Winnipeg-based Investors Group Inc. allows its advisors to choose which media they want to use to extend their professional profile. The only stipulations are that all client communication content must be conducted in an appropriate manner and approved beforehand with the compliance department. Advisors are allowed to have personal pages on Facebook that they can access from home and which provide links to their pre-approved business Web sites.

Waterloo, Ont.-based Sun Life Financial Inc. is also embracing social sites. “We are actively looking at ways to use social media to support our business objectives,” says Susan Jantzi, Sun Life’s senior manager of external communications and corporate affairs. “We encourage advisors to familiarize themselves with vehicles such as Facebook, and we are exploring what’s best for advisors and for our customers.”

With such rapid growth, Hirsch believes that companies should be finding ways to adapt. He compares the interaction on Facebook to the oldest social vehicle in the business world, the round of golf. Facebook can’t be ignored as a way to generating business, he says. With many deals negotiated on the links, Hirsch doesn’t see why something similar can’t happen online. “Those who are doing it are succeeding because the lines between business and the personal are blurred,” he says, “and you end up doing business with friends and making friends with business associates. IE