Morgan Stanley to Pay $200 Million to Resolve US Record-Keeping Investigation

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) agreed on Friday to pay $200 million to US regulators to resolve investigations into its record-keeping practices.

The bank will pay $125 million to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and $75 million to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to resolve investigations into employee communications on messaging platforms not approved by the company. Morgan Stanley had set aside $200 million in second-quarter earnings to prepare for the fine. Separately, Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) set aside about $200 million for unauthorized electronic messaging by its employees, while Citigroup (NYSE:C) and Barclays (LON:BARC) also set aside cash to cover similar expected fines. The SEC is investigating whether Wall Street banks adequately recorded employee text messages and emails as bankers switched to remote work during the pandemic. Regulators require banks to keep records of staff communications and generally prohibit the use of personal emails, texts and messaging apps for business purposes.