As Symphony Communications Services notched a key victory in establishing itself as a viable messaging option for financial institutions, CEO David Gurle said Tuesday that this is only the beginning for the company.
"We have to start somewhere," Gurle said in a CNBC "Squawk Alley" interview, adding that starting out as a financial services messaging platform will help the company further grow down the road.
"Messaging is [financial services'] nervous system. The bar is very high with respect to the performance of the platform and the security and compliance requirements," Gurle added. "Starting here is going to give us the passport to take our solution to many other markets."
Gurle made his remarks a day after the New York State Department of Financial Services said it had struck a deal with four major banks on the recordkeeping requirements for the use of Symphony's messaging platform, which is similar to that of a Bloomberg terminal.
"This is a critical issue since chats and other electronic records have provided key evidence in investigations of wrongdoing on Wall Street. It is vital that regulators act to ensure that these records do not fall into a digital black hole," Anthony Albanese, acting superintendent of financial services, said in a release.
The four major banks in the deal are Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and Bank of New York Mellon.
In the deal, Symphony agreed to retain a copy of the four banks' messages for seven years.
"The agreement is another positive development on the eve of Symphony's launch. Symphony's platform safeguards against cyberthreats while strengthening customers' compliance operations and facilitating their ability to meet their regulatory obligations," Gurle said in a statement Monday.
"Symphony can store data securely for as long as its customers request, and its end-to-end encryption ensures messages are secure. Symphony provides state-of-the-art cybersecurity for institutions operating in complex regulatory environments."
The banks will also store duplicate copies of the decryption keys for their messages with independent custodians.
"We are pleased that these banks did the right thing by working cooperatively with us to help address our concerns about this new messaging platform," Albanese added.
—Reuters contributed to this report.