US regulators have hit 11 Wall Street companies with $289 million in fines for widespread record-keeping failures stemming from their use of private messaging apps such as WhatsApp, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th August, 2023) US regulators have hit 11 Wall Street companies with $289 million in fines for widespread record-keeping failures stemming from their use of private messaging apps such as WhatsApp, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on Tuesday.
"The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against 10 firms in their capacity as broker-dealers and one dually registered broker-dealer and investment adviser for widespread and longstanding failures by the firms and their employees to maintain and preserve electronic communications," the SEC said in a statement.
The list of charged companies included Wells Fargo Securities, BNP Paribas Securities Corp., BMO Capital Markets Corp., and others, it added.
In total, all 11 firms agreed to pay penalties of $289 million. They also have begun implementing improvements to their compliance policies and procedures to address violations. In particular, three firms linked to Wells Fargo agreed with a penalty of $125 million, the SEC noted.
The SEC found that personnel from all 11 firms used "off-channel" communications for a long time. "The firms admitted that from at least 2019, their employees often communicated through various messaging platforms on their personal devices, including iMessage, WhatsApp, and Signal, about the business of their employers," the statement said
All the companies failed to maintain or preserve the substantial majority of these off-channel communications, in violation of the Federal securities laws, it added.
