U.S. regulators on Tuesday fined 16 financial firms, including Barclays , Bank of America , Citigroup , Credit Suisse , Goldman Sachs , Morgan Stanley and UBS , a combined $1.8 billion after staff discussed deals and trades on their personal devices and apps.
The sweeping industry probe,last year and subsequently disclosed by multiple lenders, is a landmark case for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission , marking one their largest collective resolutions.
"Today's actions – both in terms of the firms involved and the size of the penalties ordered – underscore the importance of recordkeeping requirements: they're sacrosanct. If there are allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct, we must be able to examine a firm's books and records," said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.
The institutions, which cooperated with the investigation, have begun implementing improvements to their compliance policies and procedures, the SEC said.Wall Street banks have for years struggled to stamp out the use of personal devices at work - often banning them altogether from trading floors - but the problem became acute as bankers and traders worked from home during the pandemic.