UK’s Ofgem fines Morgan Stanley £5.4m for WhatsApp breaches

(Sharecast News) – UK energy regulator Ofgem has fined the US bank Morgan Stanley more than £5.4m after its energy traders used WhatsApp to talk about transactions.
Ofgem said Morgan Stanley had failed to take “reasonable steps” to make sure staff did not use communication methods that it could not hand over to investigators if requested. It emerged that traders who were buying and selling energy used their private WhatsApp accounts to discuss transactions between January 2018 and March 2020.

WhatsApp messages are encrypted at both ends, meaning they cannot be read. It is the first fine handed out in the UK under the regulation on wholesale energy market integrity and transparency (Remit) rules, Ofgem said.

Ofgem found that, while Morgan Stanley International (MSIP) had policies in place which banned traders from using WhatsApp, it “did not take sufficient reasonable steps to ensure compliance with its own policies and the requirements of the regulations”.

The watchdog said it would have fined the company £7.7m, but it discounted the figure by 30% after Morgan Stanley chose to co-operate and settle the matter.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com

Related Articles

Sign up to the Wealth DFM Newsletter

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.
Name

Trending Articles

IFA Talk logo

IFA Talk is our flagship podcast, that fits perfectly into your busy life, bringing the latest insight, analysis, news and interviews to you, wherever you are.

IFA Talk Podcast – listen to the latest episode

Wealth DFM
Privacy Overview

This policy explains how IFA Magazine collects, stores use, and shares personal information (including but not limited to information from which you can be personally identified such as your name, address, job title, company, email address, or telephone number) and information about your visits to the network, including the pages you view, the links you click and other actions taken in connection with www.ifamagazine.com, www.gbinvestments.co.uk, www.robopromedia.com, www.mvpromedia.com.

IFA Magazine Publications Limited may update this Policy at any time. It is your responsibility to check for updates to this Policy, as your continued use of the website denotes an acceptance of this Policy. Unless stated otherwise, IFA Magazine Publications Limited’s current Policy applies to all information that IFA Magazine Publications Limited has about you and your account.