The Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC were fined $22.5 million and $15 million, respectively, by U.S. regulators on Thursday for admitted recordkeeping failures regarding employee use of off-channel communications to conduct company business.

The Bank of Nova Scotia (also known as Scotiabank) and its affiliate, Scotia Capital USA, were fined a collective $15 million by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and an additional $7.5 million by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for longstanding failures to properly maintain, preserve, or produce records and for failing to provide proper oversight of employees’ use of off-channel communications on personal cell phones and messaging platforms, including WhatsApp.

Aaron Nicodemus is the Editor-in-Chief of Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass. Email: aaron.nicodemus@complianceweek.com LinkedIn:...