- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2023-02-22T16:02:00
Two regulators are investigating Wells Fargo regarding employees’ improper use of off-channel communications to conduct business and the bank’s recordkeeping of those communications.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) “have undertaken investigations regarding the company’s compliance with records retention requirements relating to business communications sent over unapproved electronic messaging channels,” Wells Fargo disclosed in a 10-K filing Tuesday.
Unauthorized communications by employees of financial institutions and the recordkeeping violations such actions cause appear to continue to be a priority for SEC investigators that shows no signs of slowing.
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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.
Carrie Tolstedt, the former head of Wells Fargo’s community bank, will pay a $17 million fine issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for her role in the bank’s fake accounts scandal.
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.
