JPMorgan Is Fined $200M for Doing Business on Personal Phones, Email

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay a punishment of $200 million after admitting that staff used personal phones, emails, and text messages to do official business. This was against the Securities and Exchange Commission’s and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s record-keeping guidelines.

The SEC fined J.P. Morgan Securities, the bank’s stock-market subsidiary, and a regulatory consultant will monitor the firm’s compliance with a cease-and-desist order. Separate record-keeping accusations were made and settled by the CFTC.

On Friday, the commodities and futures regulator said that JPMorgan Chase’s banking and brokerage operations in the United States and the United Kingdom acknowledged breaking record-keeping rules and regulations.

According to SEC authorities familiar with the investigation, the brokerage firm’s unofficial communications included the transmission of tens of thousands of messages among more than 100 employees using personal text, email, and WhatsApp accounts. The broker’s communications covered the whole spectrum of its operations, from trading to investment banking. Firms are required by securities legislation to keep such documents for three to six years, or even longer.

“Record-keeping requirements are core to the Commission’s enforcement and examination programs,” said Grewal, “and when firms fail to comply with them, as JPMorgan did, they directly undermine our ability to protect investors and preserve market integrity.”