Morgan Stanley Fined Staff Up To $1 Million For WhatsApp Breaches – Source

Morgan Stanley (MS.N) has imposed financial penalties on staff who used messaging platforms such as WhatsApp for company business, according to two sources with knowledge of the situation.

The penalties extended from several thousand dollars for some employees to more than $1 million for others. The amounts were decided by factors such as seniority, the number of messages sent, and whether the employees had already gotten warnings, according to one source with knowledge of the matter.

The Financial Times reported on the penalties earlier Thursday.

Interestingly, the move takes place after the lender had agreed to pay a fine of $200 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in 2021 to solve probes into employee communications on messaging platforms that had not been authorized by the company.

Wall Street’s self-regulatory body — the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority — requires broker-dealers to maintain records of all business-related communications. The SEC has been checking whether lenders have been keeping a record of employees’ digital communications.

In September, the SEC penalized 16 financial firms, including top global banks, a combined $1.8 billion after employees discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps. The investigation has since grown beyond broker-dealers to investment funds and advisers, according to four people with knowledge of the inquiry, Reuters reported in October.

Some banks that were penalized have told staff that future pay and bonuses will be deducted for those who are found to have used unapproved communication channels, said a source with knowledge of the situation.

Financial firms are also scouring employees’ personal computers and phones in a broad effort to show regulators that they are punishing breaches of communications policies, the source said. In 2020, two top Morgan Stanley executives left the bank after the unapproved use of WhatsApp to discuss work matters.