- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2023-02-09T18:43:00
French bank Société Générale is the latest financial institution to be swept up in U.S. regulators’ crackdown on the use of personal cellphones and private apps by employees to conduct official business.
In its fourth-quarter financial statements published online Wednesday, the bank disclosed its U.S.-based investment bank and trading arm, SG Americas Securities, “received requests for information from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) focused on compliance with record-keeping requirements in connection with business-related communications on messaging platforms that were not approved by the firm.”
The disclosure acknowledged the SEC has entered into settlements with other firms regarding the matter and that SG Americas Securities was cooperating with the investigation.
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Stockholder lawsuits have emerged as the latest aftershock from the regulatory crackdown against banks and financial services firms for allowing off-channel business communications by their employees.
The Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC were fined $22.5 million and $15 million, respectively, by U.S. regulators for admitted recordkeeping failures regarding employee use of off-channel communications to conduct company business.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating Wells Fargo regarding employees’ improper use of off-channel communications to conduct business and the bank’s recordkeeping of those communications.
USAA Federal Savings Bank has been hit with its third cease and desist order from the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in the past five years for failing to correct unsafe and unsound banking practices.
Becton Dickinson medical device company will pay $175 million for “repeatedly” misleading investors about its Alaris infusion pump, a product the company knew was flawed and was sold without the required patient-safety approvals, the Securities and Exchange Commission said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged bankrupt fashion retailer Express with failing to disclose nearly $1 million in perks to a former chief executive, but did not levy a financial penalty thanks to its cooperation, the SEC said.
