Almost a dozen Wall Street firms have been handed fines worth a collected $549 million over their employees’ use of personal messaging apps such as WhatsApp to discuss business.

In a statement published Tuesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced charges against 10 firms in their capacity as broker-dealers and one dually registered broker-dealer and investment adviser.

The watchdog said that there was widespread and longstanding failure by the firms and their employees to maintain and preserve electronic communications, with all charged parties acknowledging that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws.

Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, SocGen, the Bank of Montreal, Wedbush Securities, Moelis & Company, and Houlihan Lokey, Japanese brokers Mizuho and SMBC Nikko Securities will pay a combined $289 million in fines.

Going into more detail, the SEC states in its charges that the firms did not maintain or preserve the substantial majority of off-channel communications, and that failures involved employees at multiple levels of authority, including supervisors and senior executives.

Wells Fargo, BNP Paribas, SocGen, BMO, and Wedbush meanwhile will pay a further $260 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for similar violations.

These are the latest fines handed to Wall Street firms over unauthorised use of apps like iMessage and WhatsApp. Since probes were launched in late 2021, firms including Barclays, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase have been made to pay more than $2 billion in fines.

Commenting on the charges, Gurbir S. Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said: “Compliance with the books and records requirements of the federal securities laws is essential to investor protection and well-functioning markets.

“To date, the Commission has brought 30 enforcement actions and ordered over $1.5 billion in penalties to drive this foundational message home. And while some broker-dealers and investment advisers have heeded this message, self-reported violations, or improved internal policies and procedures, today’s actions remind us that many still have not.”

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