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- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By Aaron Nicodemus2022-09-28T18:39:00
In an enforcement sweep against off-channel electronic communications at financial institutions regulators warned was coming, 11 banks, investment firms, and their affiliates will pay a total of more than $1.8 billion in fines for “widespread and longstanding failures” in monitoring, maintaining, and preserving electronic communications by employees.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined the firms more than $1.1 billion total, while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) levied another $711 million in penalties Tuesday. The agencies concluded that, collectively, the firms did not reign in off-channel communications by employees from 2018-21.
Specifically, the two regulators found systemic use of off-channel electronic communications by company employees on business-related topics conducted on personal cell phones, messaging apps, and other channels. These messages were not captured, recorded, and stored by the firms, as required by the SEC’s and CFTC’s recordkeeping, books and records, and supervision requirements for market participants.
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News and analysis for the well-informed compliance or audit exec. Select an option and click continue.
Annual Membership $499 Value offer
Full price one year membership with auto-renewal.
Membership $599
One-year only, no auto-renewal.
2024-02-09T17:00:00Z By Compliance Week
The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have combined to levy nearly $3.5 billion in penalties (so far) against firms and their affiliates in response to recordkeeping failures regarding employee use of off-channel communications for business purposes.
2023-08-09T15:10:00Z By Aaron Nicodemus
The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have indicated they will be more forgiving to financial services firms that voluntarily self-report recordkeeping violations and take remedial actions before being asked to do so.
2023-07-25T20:24:00Z By Aaron Nicodemus
Stockholder lawsuits have emerged as the latest aftershock from the regulatory crackdown against banks and financial services firms for allowing off-channel business communications by their employees.
2024-10-22T21:18:00Z By Adrianne Appel
Precision Toxicology has agreed to pay $27 million to settle allegations first brought by whistleblowers in three cases, that the company billed the federal government for unnecessary drug tests and paid kickbacks to doctors, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said.
2024-10-22T16:08:00Z By Aaron Nicodemus
Fund management company WisdomTree will pay $4 million to settle allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that it improperly invested in fossil fuel and tobacco companies in environmental, social and governance (ESG) funds despite promising to avoid them.
2024-10-18T18:10:00Z By Adrianne Appel
A Vietnamese alcohol company has agreed to pay $860,000 to settle allegations by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that its business with North Korea involved U.S. financial institutions.
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