(New York) US bank JPMorgan Chase agreed to pay a $ 125 million fine to the US stock market policeman, the SEC, which accused it of allowing its employees to use third-party messaging services to circumvent laws on keeping records.
In this same file, JPMorgan will pay 75 million dollars to the American agency which supervises the futures markets, the CFTC.
According to a statement released by the SEC on Friday, JPMorgan acknowledged “that at least between January 2018 and November 2020, its employees frequently communicated on securities matters on their personal devices using text messages, WhatsApp and their private email addresses. ”
None of this data was retained by the company as required by federal securities laws ”.
Extract from the SEC press release
These practices are described by the SEC as having been “current” and “longstanding” and having involved employees in positions at all levels of the hierarchy.
Tens of thousands of hidden messages
In its order, the SEC indicates that employees exchanged tens of thousands of messages illegally during the period under investigation.
The stock market policeman said that following his findings at JPMorgan, he launched investigations into the record keeping practices of other financial institutions, without specifying which ones.
“Record-keeping requirements are essential” to the work of the securities regulator, Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s law enforcement division, commented in the statement.
“When companies fail to meet these requirements, like JPMorgan, they directly undermine our ability to protect investors and maintain market integrity,” added Mr. Grewal.