Wall Street Firms Slapped with Massive Fines for Evading Regulators Using Messaging Apps

U.S. regulators have imposed fines totaling $549 million on Wells Fargo and several other banks for failing to maintain electronic records of employee communications. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined 11 firms $289 million for record-keeping failures, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined four banks $260 million for not maintaining required records. This is part of regulators' ongoing efforts to crack down on the use of secure messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp by Wall Street employees. The fines bring the total penalties related to this issue to over $2 billion. Wells Fargo received the highest fines, totaling $200 million, and other banks fined include BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, and the Bank of Montreal. In addition to the fines, the banks must hire consultants to review their policies and cease future violations.