JP Morgan fined $200 million for failing to preserve staff communication on personal devices

• SEC said JP Morgan agreed to pay $125 million after admitting to “widespread” record-keeping failures in recent years

• The SEC found that JP Morgan was unable to preserve written business communications as required by the law

U.S. regulators on Friday fined J.P. Morgan Securities $200 million for failing to preserve staff communication on personal devices.

The Securities Exchange Commission said that JP Morgan agreed to pay $125 million after admitting to “widespread” record-keeping failures in recent years.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also fined the firm $75 million for allowing unapproved communications. JP Morgan admitted to the charges and agreed to implement improvements to compliance policies.

"The firm's actions meaningfully impacted the SEC's ability to investigate potential violations of the federal securities laws," the SEC said.

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The SEC found while conducting other investigations that JP Morgan was unable to preserve written business communications as required by the law.

SEC Chair Gary Gensler, recently appointed by Joe Biden, had pledged to crack down such misconduct. This is one of the first major actions taken by him. SEC has also opened investigations in other firms after the JPMorgan probe.

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The SEC said that at least from January 2018 to November 2020, JP Morgan had not preserved communications about securities business matters by employees on their personal devices.

JP Morgan has agreed to retain a compliance consultant and to review its policies about preserving electronic communication on personal devices, said the SEC.

Picture Credits: Reuters