By
Aaron Nicodemus2024-09-05T14:32:00
Six credit rating agencies will pay $49 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allowing their employees to communicate on company business using nonapproved communication channels like Whats App and WeChat.
The six firms are credit ratings agencies, representing a new category of firms entering into settlements with the SEC for off-channel communication violations that, until now, has mostly targeted broker-dealers and investment advisers.
According to an SEC press release, issued Tuesday, the latest firms to settle include Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. to pay $20 million; S&P Global Ratings to pay $20 million; Fitch Ratings, Inc. to pay $8 million; HR Ratings de México, S.A. de C.V. to pay $250,000; A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. to pay $1 million; and Demotech, Inc. to pay $100,000.
2025-01-15T16:24:00Z By Aaron Nicodemus
Twelve more firms have been dinged with fines by the Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to properly supervise employees who used off-channel communications to conduct company business. In this latest round of enforcement actions, nine investment advisers and three broker-dealers will pay a total of $63 million.
2024-09-24T15:31:00Z By Aaron Nicodemus
Regulators continue to hammer firms with fines for violating rules regarding the use of unapproved communication methods by employees, issuing $120 million in fines this week. And for the first time, two firms were not fined because they self-reported their violations.
2024-09-17T18:01:00Z By Aaron Nicodemus
Fines for off-channel communications use by employees just keep on coming, with 12 municipal advisory firms fined a total of $1.3 million in the latest Securities and Exchange Commission sweep.
2025-10-29T20:04:00Z By Oscar Gonzalez
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shut down a registry of non-bank financial firms that broke consumer laws. The agency cites the costs being ”not justified by the speculative and unquantified benefits to consumers.”
2025-10-28T21:11:00Z By Adrianne Appel
Senate Democrats warned OMB Director Russell Vought Tuesday that it would be illegal for the Trump administration to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, citing a recent court decision barring actions that could severely harm the agency.
2025-10-23T20:36:00Z By Jaclyn Jaeger
It has been nearly six months now since the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Criminal Division released its memorandum on the selection of compliance monitors. This article provides a critical analysis of the monitorships that received early terminations, those that remain in place, and the broader compliance lessons they impart.
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