BNP Paribas to Settle SEC, CFTC Probes Over Use of Banned Messaging Apps
The French bank said it has reached proposed resolutions with the regulators BNP Paribas said it has been under investigation over its compliance with record-keeping rules. Photo: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg News By Mengqi Sun July 27, 2023 7:21 pm ET BNP Paribas said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating it over its employees’ use of messaging applications that broke record-keeping rules. The French bank and its broker-dealer division have reached proposed resolutions with the respective regulators to resolve the probes, BNP Paribas said in its second-quarter earnings report that became public Thursday. The proposed resolutions are subject to approval by the CFTC and SEC, the bank said. BNP Pari
BNP Paribas said it has been under investigation over its compliance with record-keeping rules.
Photo: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg News
BNP Paribas said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating it over its employees’ use of messaging applications that broke record-keeping rules.
The French bank and its broker-dealer division have reached proposed resolutions with the respective regulators to resolve the probes, BNP Paribas said in its second-quarter earnings report that became public Thursday. The proposed resolutions are subject to approval by the CFTC and SEC, the bank said.
BNP Paribas, while not specifying the amount of fines it expects to pay as part of its proposed resolutions, disclosed that it has also set aside €125 million, or about $137.3 million, for litigation, according to the financial statements.
A spokesman for the bank declined to comment.
The SEC and CFTC have been probing BNP Paribas Securities Corp., the bank’s U.S. registered broker-dealer, over its “compliance with records preservation requirements relating to the use of unapproved electronic messaging platforms for business communications,” according to the earnings report.
Its parent, BNP Paribas SA, has also been under investigation by the CFTC over its compliance with requirements to maintain electronic records.
BNP Paribas is the latest financial institution to face charges over record-keeping requirements. Off-channel communications—those that take place outside a firm’s formal, approved methods—have been a focal point for Wall Street regulators for the past few years.
Eleven of the world’s largest banks and brokerages in September agreed to collectively pay $1.8 billion in fines to resolve regulatory investigations, admitting that they violated rules that require storage of written communications.
Write to Mengqi Sun at [email protected]
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