In its recent SEC filing, Wells Fargo stated that The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission “have undertaken investigations regarding [Wells Fargo’s] compliance with records retention requirements relating to business communications sent over unapproved electronic messaging channels,”
In the last several months, the SEC and CFTC fined 11 Wall Street banks and brokerages more than $1.8 billion for conducting some company business on messaging platforms such as WhatsApp.
The bank first warned investors last year about a CFTC investigation into “interest rate swap transactions related to bond issuances, among other things, as well as the use of non-HSBC approved messaging platforms for business communications.”
French banking giant Societe Generale this month also revealed in its annual report that its Americas Securities unit “has received requests for information” from the SEC “focused on compliance with record-keeping requirements in connection with business-related communications on messaging platforms that were not approved by the firm. SocGen “is cooperating with the investigation,” the bank said.
JPMorgan Chase in December 2021 became the first big bank to settle messaging probes by the SEC and CFTC when it agreed to pay the regulators $200 million over failure to maintain and preserve its bankers’ written communications.
In October, there was a grouping of settlements mirrored that deal. Barclays, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS all paid $125 million to the SEC and $75 million to the CFTC .
Jeffrey Newman is a whistleblower lawyer who can be reached at jeff@jeffnewmanlaw.com
