Wall Street giant banks including Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, Bank of Montreal, Mizuho Financial Group and Societe Generale must pay hundreds of millions of dollars in fines for wrongdoing by their employees. Some bankers also worked through informal platforms such as WhatsApp, SMS, or private email addresses. The fine announced on Tuesday is the latest step by the United States to regulate the banking sector.
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Financial companies are obligated to monitor and maintain all communications relating to their business activities. It was requested by the regulatory authorities to facilitate the investigation of possible violations. However, when bankers use messaging apps that automatically delete messages, authorities have particular difficulty detecting breaches.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which oversees the exchange
Some banks do not manage their connections properly,
This was confirmed by a CFTC investigation. The companies have admitted that their employees use platforms such as iMessage, WhatsApp or Signal in their business operations.
It is expected that the regulatory authorities will also make a condemnation decision regarding other financial institutions in the future in order to ensure the monitoring of the business process. The organizations are currently investigating the communication practices of several companies, it reported bloomberg.
Last year, the SEC fined Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, among others, $1.1 billion.
The latter paid the fine, but received it from the offending employees. According to the CFTC, the companies admitted a total of $710 million. And in May, HSBC and Scotiabank were fined $45 and $22.5 million, respectively.
