- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) crack down on recordkeeping failures by financial services firms regarding employee use of off-channel communications for business purposes began in December 2021 and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing since.
The agencies have combined to levy about $2.8 billion in penalties against firms and their affiliates in response to the violations. Firms have admitted their failures and been required to retain independent compliance consultants to review their off-channel communication recordkeeping policies and procedures and how they address noncompliance by employees.
The below table summarizes the SEC’s and CFTC’s enforcement activities regarding off-channel communications. Violations by affiliates have been accounted for under their parent companies for presentation purposes.
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Ameriprise Financial disclosed it recorded a $50 million accrual related to the resolution of a Securities and Exchange Commission probe into use of off-channel communications by its employees for conducting business.
The ongoing off-channel communications sweep by the Securities and Exchange Commission netted 16 more broker-dealers and investment advisers, with the latest wave of fines totaling more than $81 million.
A dozen financial services firms were penalized by the Securities and Exchange Commission as the agency continues its enforcement sweep of recordkeeping violations regarding employee use of off-channel communications for business purposes.
TikTok is suspending new features amid an inquiry by the European Commission into its compliance with the Digital Services Act, all while responding to a U.S. ban just signed into law.
The Czech Republic’s data protection authority issued a fine of 351 million Czech koruna (U.S. $15 million) against antivirus software vendor Avast for alleged violations of the General Data Protection Regulation.
Consolidated Nuclear Security agreed to pay $18.4 million to settle alleged False Claims Act violations regarding the submission of timecards for unworked hours to the National Nuclear Security Administration.
