Proactive Investors - HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) has barred staff from texting on their work phones after a regulatory clampdown on the use of different methods of communication in recent years.
First reported by Bloomberg, the FTSE 100-listed bank is in the midst of disabling SMS services on employee phones, having already banned the use of WhatsApp.
“Banks use a wide range of approved channels to communicate in compliance with regulatory obligations,” HSBC said through a spokesperson.
“HSBC, like many other banks, reviews and adjusts functionality on its corporate devices as needed.”
The use of messaging apps by bank workers boomed during the pandemic as home working took off.
As a result, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been among regulators to issue around US$2 billion in fines in the US over the past two years over unkept communication records.
Concerns have been raised over record-keeping rule breaches in the UK too, with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) saying it had been in discussions with US regulators over the issue earlier this month.
The use of WhatsApp by Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) traders had landed it in trouble with UK energy regulator Ofgem earlier this year meanwhile, as it was fined £5.4 million for failing to record discussions over wholesale market transactions.