SAN FRANCISCO (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and
the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued fines against several financial
firms, including Wells Fargo and BNP Paribas, for failing to maintain records of
employee communications on unapproved platforms. The Regulators ordered the
financial institutions to pay combined penalties of about $550 million.

The SEC announced charges against 10 firms in their capacity as broker-dealers
and one dually registered broker-dealer and investment adviser for widespread
and longstanding failures by the firms and their employees to maintain and
preserve electronic communications. The firms agreed to pay combined penalties
of $289 million, and have begun implementing improvements to their compliance
policies and procedures to address the violations.

According to the SEC, Wells Fargo Securities, LLC together with Wells Fargo
Clearing Services, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC agreed to
pay a $125 million penalty; BNP Paribas Securities Corp. and SG Americas
Securities, LLC have each agreed to pay penalties of $35 million; BMO Capital
Markets Corp. and Mizuho Securities USA LLC have each agreed to pay penalties of
$25 million;Houlihan Lokey Capital, Inc. has agreed to pay a $15 million
penalty;Moelis & Company LLC and Wedbush Securities Inc. have each agreed to pay
penalties of $10 million; and SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc. has agreed to
pay a $9 million penalty.

The SEC said that its investigation uncovered pervasive and longstanding
'off-channel' communications at all 11 firms. The firms admitted that from at
least 2019, their employees often communicated through various messaging
platforms on their personal devices, including iMessage, WhatsApp, and Signal,
about the business of their employers. The firms did not maintain or preserve
the substantial majority of these off-channel communications, in violation of
the federal securities laws.

In addition to the significant financial penalties, each of the firms was
ordered to cease and desist from future violations of the relevant recordkeeping
provisions and was censured. The firms also agreed to retain independent
compliance consultants to, among other things, conduct comprehensive reviews of
their policies and procedures relating to the retention of electronic
communications found on personal devices and their respective frameworks for
addressing non-compliance by their employees with those policies and procedures,
the SEC said in a statement.

Separately, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ordered four financial
institutions to pay total of $260 Million for recordkeeping and supervision
failures for widespread use of unapproved communication methods.

Wells Fargo agreed to pay a $75 million penalty; BNP Paribas agreed to pay
penalties of $75 million; Société Générale agreed to pay a $75 million penalty;
Bank of Montreal agreed to pay penalties of $35 million.



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