Morgan Stanley agreed to pay 5.41 million British pounds, equivalent to about $6.82 million, to the U.K.’s energy markets regulator to settle an investigation over its traders’ use of banned messaging apps that breached requirements to retain written communications.
The fine, announced Wednesday, was the first ever issued in the U.K. for record-keeping requirements related to the trading of wholesale energy products, according to the regulator, the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets, known as Ofgem.
Morgan Stanley admitted that between 2018 and 2020, its wholesale energy traders discussed energy market transactions on encrypted messaging app WhatsApp using their privately owned phones.
Source: Morgan Stanley Fined by U.K. Energy Market Regulator Over WhatsApp Uses – WSJ
