I recently presented a web seminar on risk management for financial services websites.

I came up with 3 principles and 17 guidelines for developing a
compliant financial services website. Whilst some overlap they are a starting point. But
they are not an audit checklist for specific legal requirements:

Principles

1. A business website must be compliant, it can’t just look good
2. It must look good (and be easy to use)
3. Incorporate risk management and compliance into development

Guidelines

1.   Implement consumer protection and accessibility through good design
2. Avoid customer confusion by using well written content
3. Ensure there is adequate disclosure of key legal information
4. Provide security information to customers
5. Protect customer privacy and confidentiality
6. Know your customers
7. Be clear about third party relationships
8. Tell your story:use your website to report to your users about
governance, social and     environmental matters as well as financial
matters
9. Use your website to communicate with your customers
10. Provide users with interactive tools and functions
11. Provide information for investors
12. Implement member service systems
13. Integrate legal requirements into the website
14. Develop an IT governance policy: know your strategic goal
15. Be innovative
16. Communicate with employees
17. Involve your compliance officer in planning

You can order a copy of the audio recording and 60 page report here.

UPDATE :  Jakob Nielsen’s latest article is relevant to Principles 1 and 2:

"the biggest design flaws destroying business value typically involve:

• Communicating clearly so that users understand
  you. Users allocate minimal time to initial website visits, so you must
  quickly convince them that the site’s worthwhile.
• Providing information users want. Users must be able to easily determine whether your services meet their needs and why they should do business with you.
• Offering simple, consistent page design, clear navigation, and an information architecture that puts things where users expect to find them."