16 Firms Must Pay $1.1B Over Text Message Violations

“Finance, ultimately, depends on trust,” said SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, in a statement. “By failing to honor their recordkeeping and books-and-records obligations, the market participants we have charged today have failed to maintain that trust.”

As technology changes, Gensler continued, “it’s even more important that registrants appropriately conduct their communications about business matters within only official channels, and they must maintain and preserve those communications. As part of our examinations and enforcement work, we will continue to ensure compliance with these laws.”

Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, added that the 16 firms “not only have admitted the facts and acknowledged that their conduct violated these very important requirements, but have also started to implement measures to prevent future violations. Other broker dealers and asset managers who are subject to similar requirements under the federal securities laws would be well-served to self-report and self-remediate any deficiencies.”

Each of the 15 broker-dealers was charged with violating certain recordkeeping provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and with failing reasonably to supervise with a view to preventing and detecting those violations.

DWS Investment Management Americas, Inc., the investment advisor, was charged with violating certain recordkeeping provisions of the Investment Advisers of 1940 and with failing reasonably to supervise with a view to preventing and detecting those violations, the SEC said.

Separately, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced settlements with the firms for related conduct.