The US big banks were fined billions by the SEC.
(Photo: AP)
new York The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed fines totaling billions on 16 Wall Street institutions. Together they are to pay a fine of more than $1.1 billion for deficiencies in electronic communications, the agency announced on Tuesday.
Deutsche Bank Securities, Credit Suisse, UBS, Barclays, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Nomura Securities International and Jeffries are among those affected. The banks each paid fines ranging from $10 million to $125 million.
Employees of the financial institutions exchanged information on business matters via messenger apps. The US authorities saw this as a serious breach of the rules, since the companies could not archive the communication in the encrypted services as required. SEC boss Gary Gensler criticized that the financial firms had thereby damaged market confidence. At the end of last year, fines totaling 200 million dollars were imposed on the major bank JPMorgan following the investigation.