JPMorgan agrees to pay $200M for record failures, unapproved communication

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - JPMorgan Chase agreed Friday to pay $200 million to two American regulators for record-keeping failures and conducting unapproved communication.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said JPMorgan Securities, a subsidiary of the US-based multinational investment bank and financial services firm, was charged with widespread and longstanding failures by the firm and its employees to maintain and preserve communications.

The company admitted that its conduct violated the federal securities laws and agreed to pay a $125 million penalty, the US market watchdog said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, in the past we’ve seen violations in the financial markets that were committed using unofficial communications channels," said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also issued an order simultaneously filing and settling charges against JPMorgan Chase and its subsidiary, for failing to maintain, preserve and produce records that were required to be kept.

"The order finds that since at least July 2015, JPMorgan employees, including those at senior levels, communicated both internally and externally on unapproved channels, including via personal text messages and WhatsApp messages," said CFTC.

JPMorgan is set to pay a $75 million civil monetary penalty, it added.