Nevoia neplăcută a serviciilor financiare pentru arhivarea WhatsApp (Harriet Christie)

În septembrie 2022, Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) și Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) au ajuns la acorduri în valoare totală de aproximativ 1.8 miliarde USD cu

12 dintre principalele bănci de investiții din Wall Street. The prominent institutions, which included Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, were penalized for failing to monitor employees’ use of unauthorized messaging apps, like Whatsapp, with
colleagues and clients. 

The probe followed on from JP Morgan’s $200 million fine in December 2021, with the floodgates apparently opening. Authorities seem to have used that initial $200 million settlement figure as a yardstick for the industry, signifying the end of an unofficial
grace period afforded firms adapting to the pandemic.  

Such monumental penalties have of course had a seismic impact on the financial services landscape, with the repercussions reaching far beyond the behemoths evidently being made an example of. But how did we get to this stage, and how can firms address the
employee behaviors which are clearly no longer going to be tolerated?

Ce e cu WhatsApp? 

Mandatele SEC that banks maintain records of all communication between clients and brokers. Private exchanges, like those occurring through WhatsApp,
are far more difficult to monitor, and the likelihood of data being compromised only increases as personal devices are introduced to the equation. 

It’s important to note that the issue here is not with WhatsApp itself; the same concerns apply with WeChat, Telegram, and other ‘ephemeral’ messaging apps. It is the difficulties in documenting communications on these encrypted platforms, and the subsequent
contravention of record-keeping requirements, that is problematic. 

Oboseala prin apeluri telefonice 

Until relatively recently, consumers had limited options available to them if they wanted to reach out to a regulated firm. To discuss their bank account, for instance, they’d need to either get on the phone or head over to their local branch for a personal
discussion. Now, they are able to communicate with the organization through a multitude of digital channels. 

Nu este doar o opțiune, ci o preferință. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger și Telegram s-au numărat printre

cele mai descărcate aplicații în Q1 2022, iar WhatsApp în sine are un aspect astronomic
2 miliarde de utilizatori activi la nivel mondial. Conform
Forbes, 93% dintre consumatorii din SUA doresc să comunice prin mesaj text, cu rapiditate, ușurință în utilizare și familiaritate (consumator) cu platformele dovedind avantaje decisive.  

Aceasta funcționează în ambele sensuri; este, de asemenea, mai ușor și mai eficient pentru angajați să comunice prin instrumente pe care sunt familiarizați cu le utilizează în viața lor de zi cu zi, decât unul oferit de angajator. 

Canale de la distanță 

Perturbarea pandemiei de Covid-19 a dus la o dependență mult mai mare de aplicațiile de mesagerie, deoarece proximitatea fizică, chiar și cu colegii, a fost interzisă. În 2019, 68.1 milioane de utilizatori de telefoane mobile din SUA au accesat WhatsApp pentru a comunica. Această cifră este proiectată

crește la 85.8 milioane de utilizatori în 2023. Un produs secundar al acestei dependențe de noile canale digitale a fost o escaladare a numărului de lucrători care utilizează

telefoane personale sau tablete pentru afaceri, pe măsură ce liniile au început să se estompeze și viețile profesionale și personale s-au împletit. 

Employees are more likely to act casually when working remotely, whether that means taking longer breaks or messaging clients or colleagues through an unauthorized channel. Having allowed these communication habits to set in over a sustained period, they’re
now very difficult to shift back to a pre-Covid level, given the inherent convenience and usability that employees have become accustomed to. 

Plata Facturii 

JP Morgan
Amenda de 200 de milioane de dolari în decembrie 2021 a fost prima sancțiune semnificativă dintr-o anchetă care a afectat, de asemenea, duzina de bănci de investiții de top menționate mai sus, în valoare de 1.8 miliarde de dolari. Reprimarea SEC a continuat de atunci să se extindă, ca și Wall Street

giganții de capital privat au dezvăluit că sunt investigați.  

S-a lansat și unitatea de executare
anchete about smaller Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) protocols for ‘off-channel’ business communications. RIAs are subject to the same regulations as the larger firms that were previously penalized, so while they may have been spared the ambush of
the initial investigations, they should be mindful that they’re in the regulators’ crosshairs nevertheless. 

Ce acum? 

The situation leaves business leaders and compliance teams in a quandary. Should they sacrifice convenience and operational efficiency in the pursuit of compliance, banning messaging apps outright and instead relying on the tried and tested solutions of
email, phone calls and, to a lesser extent, social media? 

Aceasta este probabil o opțiune tentantă, având în vedere enormitatea pedepselor aplicate. A fost cu siguranță abordarea cea mai populară, având în vedere că, în iulie 2022, tocmai

15% dintre firmele financiare monitorizau WhatsApp. 

But it’s not quite that simple. Banning employees from using particular channels doesn’t necessarily mean that all risks are eliminated. The prohibition of helpful tools will probably lead to disgruntled employees and “compliance gaps” in the workplace.
The safer option is for business leaders to understand the platforms that employees and consumers prefer to use, then developing suitable policies accordingly.  

Ultimately, if employees want to use unauthorized apps, they will do so, unless a supervisory procedure is in place to police it correctly. This has had immense repercussions for the likes of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America et al, who have not succeeded with
this step, despite their resources.  

WhatsApp poate fi monitorizat? 

Opțiunea preferată aici este, cu siguranță, să împuterniciți personalul să utilizeze platformele cu care sunt cel mai confortabil, minimizând limitările ori de câte ori este posibil.  

To achieve compliance on encrypted platforms like WhatsApp, business leaders must ensure they can capture, preserve, and monitor conversations. This is easier said than done, and the process has historically been a source of great difficulty. However, in
recent years, new solutions have been developed specifically to tackle this emerging necessity.  

Much as they had previously for social media platforms, leading digital archiving vendors have built the technology to capture and archive communications data from apps like WhatsApp, WeChat, Signal and Telegram. This rescues business leaders from the frustration
of having to choose between efficiency and compliance; both can now co-exist very peacefully. 

Crucially, firms can also allocate secondary numbers on personal devices, allowing employees to differentiate between business and non-work-related contacts, and capture pertinent data accordingly. This means that privacy can also be maintained despite heightened
levels of professional scrutiny. 

Ar fi contra-intuitiv să ignorăm cererea în creștere pentru aplicații de mesagerie criptate la locul de muncă. Din fericire, afacerile nu mai trebuie.