WhatsApp messages between merchants lands financial institution with £5.4m tremendous

A significant US financial institution has been fined £5.4m by the UK’s power regulator for failures to file and retain communications between merchants.

Ofgem stated that the penalty imposed on Morgan Stanley & Co International plc (MSIP) was the primary of its type and associated to discussions over WhatsApp between January 2018 and March 2020.

The communications on energy market transactions, it defined, have been made by wholesale merchants on privately-owned telephones in a breach of guidelines designed to guard shoppers, guarantee market transparency and stop insider buying and selling.

Private chat over WhatsApp is banned for merchants because of the platform’s use of encryption. Banks are required to carry on to all communications and hand them to regulators on request.

“Ofgem found that MSIP had policies in place which prohibited the use of WhatsApp for trading communications – but MSIP did not take sufficient reasonable steps to ensure compliance with its own policies and the requirements of the regulations,” the watchdog’s assertion stated.

“MSIP has admitted the breaches… and has taken steps to ensure the breaches do not happen again, including enhanced staff training and the strengthening of its internal systems and controls.

“MSIP totally co-operated with Ofgem’s investigation and has agreed to settle the case. The tremendous features a 30% penalty low cost for settling.”

Ofgem’s regulatory director of enforcement added that the tremendous despatched a powerful message about enforcement of buying and selling laws.

“It is unacceptable that MSIP failed to stop digital communications which couldn’t be recorded or retained.

“It risks a significant compromise of the integrity and transparency of wholesale energy markets.

“We welcome the steps MSIP has taken to make sure the breaches don’t occur once more.”

The firm was but to remark.