The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has fined big-name banks and brokerages a collective $1.8 billion over workers’ use of private texting apps to discuss work and for not always saving those messages. The fines include $1.1 billion assessed by the SEC and a $710 million fine from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
The SEC investigation uncovered what the agency called “pervasive off-channel communications,” that were collected by the firms themselves from employee devices. The employees included senior and junior investment bankers and debt and equity traders.
