The focus of the supervision is allegedly the use of intelligence services on private devices of the employees.
(Photo: dpa)
Washington According to insiders, the US financial regulator SEC is scrutinizing the digital communication channels at banks. In the past few weeks, SEC employees have requested information from several banks to what extent they have documented work-related communications from their employees via e-mail and text messages, said three people familiar with the matter to the Reuters news agency. The focus is on the use of messaging services on employees’ private devices. The SEC declined to comment.
The SEC repeatedly conducts such surveys on the basis of individual incidents in order to find out as quickly as possible whether the topic is spreading. This can lead to a formal investigation.
In August, the US bank JPMorgan announced that there were government investigations into its house over allegations that employees had communicated through unauthorized intelligence services. They were working on a solution with the regulators, it was said at the time. Morgan Stanley fired two dealers last year for making work-related agreements via WhatsApp.
The supervisory authority requires dealers, for example, that discussions with customers and agreements with one another are documented. For banks, there is a fine line between protecting the privacy of their employees and the requirements of the authorities, said an insider. Many financial institutions therefore prohibit the use of personal e-mail and messaging services for work-related topics in the first place.
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However, due to the corona pandemic, communication between bankers through working in the home office has changed again. The high-ranking SEC representative Gurbir Grewal warned the banks in a speech last week not to violate documentation obligations and lose track of the situation by changing communication between employees.
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