Wells Fargo & Co. said that U.S. regulators are investigating its retention of employee communications over unapproved messaging apps, the latest bank to get caught up in an industrywide sweep that's already yielded over $2 billion in fines.
Probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission were disclosed Tuesday in a regulatory filing. They are investigating "compliance with records-retention requirements relating to business communications sent over unapproved electronic messaging channels," San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said.
Many of Wells Fargo's biggest rivals have already settled with the SEC and CFTC over the matter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. agreed to pay $200 million in late 2021. A dozen more, including Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, reached settlements in September.
