Morgan Stanley, a New York-based global investment bank, has penalized
some of its employees with fines ranging between a few thousands of dollars to
over $1 million for using messaging platforms such as WhatsApp to discuss official
business.
Sources told the Financial Times, which first broke the news, that Morgan Stanley used factors such as seniority, the volume of messages sent and
if previous warnings were issued, to determine the fine each employee was to
pay. Bloomberg further reports that the financial services company has
already deducted the fine from some of the workers’ bonuses while others will
settle with their future pay.
Morgan Stanley’s action comes five months after the top global
banker agreed to pay $125 million to the US Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) and $75 million to the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC ) to
settle the regulators’ probes into its record-keeping practices. Over two years ago, the banker fired two of its top trading executives for violating the company’s policy on communication tools by using WhatsApp to discuss official business.
Last year, other top US bankers such as the Bank of America, Barclays
and Citigroup also set up funds to settle related cases.
Regulators such as the SEC requires broker-dealers to preserve their business-related communications for regulatory purposes. However, in the last few years, the securities market regulator has been probing the lenders to determine if they are keeping records of their communications, including those made on social messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Watch the recent FMLS22 session on strengthening the partnership between fintech and banks.
In a major revelation last year, the SEC in September disclosed
that 16 Wall Street companies have agreed to pay combined penalties of over $1.1 billion for their
recordkeeping failures. These companies include 15 broker-dealers that are the
subsidiaries of banking giants such as Barclays, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs,
Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, among others. The group also
included one affiliated investment adviser.
According to the SEC, between January 2018 through September 2021, the
firms’ employees routinely communicated about business matters using text
messaging applications such as WhatsApp on their personal devices. SEC
described this as “pervasive off-channel communciations.”
Morgan Stanley, a New York-based global investment bank, has penalized
some of its employees with fines ranging between a few thousands of dollars to
over $1 million for using messaging platforms such as WhatsApp to discuss official
business.
Sources told the Financial Times, which first broke the news, that Morgan Stanley used factors such as seniority, the volume of messages sent and
if previous warnings were issued, to determine the fine each employee was to
pay. Bloomberg further reports that the financial services company has
already deducted the fine from some of the workers’ bonuses while others will
settle with their future pay.
Morgan Stanley’s action comes five months after the top global
banker agreed to pay $125 million to the US Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) and $75 million to the Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC ) to
settle the regulators’ probes into its record-keeping practices. Over two years ago, the banker fired two of its top trading executives for violating the company’s policy on communication tools by using WhatsApp to discuss official business.
Last year, other top US bankers such as the Bank of America, Barclays
and Citigroup also set up funds to settle related cases.
Regulators such as the SEC requires broker-dealers to preserve their business-related communications for regulatory purposes. However, in the last few years, the securities market regulator has been probing the lenders to determine if they are keeping records of their communications, including those made on social messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Watch the recent FMLS22 session on strengthening the partnership between fintech and banks.
In a major revelation last year, the SEC in September disclosed
that 16 Wall Street companies have agreed to pay combined penalties of over $1.1 billion for their
recordkeeping failures. These companies include 15 broker-dealers that are the
subsidiaries of banking giants such as Barclays, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs,
Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank, among others. The group also
included one affiliated investment adviser.
According to the SEC, between January 2018 through September 2021, the
firms’ employees routinely communicated about business matters using text
messaging applications such as WhatsApp on their personal devices. SEC
described this as “pervasive off-channel communciations.”