Because employees use WhatsApp: Juicy fine for banks

Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions are facing extensive penalties in the United States. Employees are said to have conducted business communication via messengers such as WhatsApp, which contradicts compliance regulations. The fine could be up to $200 million per bank.

Banks fined millions for WhatsApp

In the US, several banks are about to reach an agreement with the SEC and the CFTC. Deutsche Bank and other institutes such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Barclays have to agree prepare for a massive fine, each of which could total up to $200 million. For months, the supervisors have been examining the extent to which WhatsApp was used for business communication.

SEC and CFTC compliance regulations require financial institutions archive all communications from your employees. Apparently, some employees working from home were using WhatsApp and Signal. The problem: Messenger allows you to simply delete messages after reading them.

The investigating authorities also suspect that the mixing of business and private apps and devices possible security risk represents. This would make it easier for hackers to gain access to systems. This is another reason why it is assumed that the fines could be particularly high in order to have a deterrent effect.

In December 2021, JP Morgan Chase, the largest US bank, had already reached an out-of-court agreement with the SEC and CFTC Agreed to pay $200 million. Tens of thousands of messages are said not to have been archived (source: Handelsblatt).

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WhatsApp: German financial regulator also determined

Also in Germany investigates the financial regulator Bafin possible violations in communication between employees of Deutsche Bank and the fund subsidiary DWS. For the bank, WhatsApp use could become twice as expensive if a fine is also imposed in this country.