Reserves show that deutsche Bank is preparing for millions in fines for using WhatsApp for communication.
Deutsche Bank and other large banks on Wall Street, such as JPMorgan and Bank of America, are said to be paying heavy fines for using the messenger WhatsApp and private email accounts for business purposes. The Handelsblatt and the Wall Street Journal report that they are already in talks with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the derivatives regulator. In total, penalties amount to one billion US dollars.
Each institute should therefore have to pay 200 million US dollars, which was mutually agreed upon. The agreement should be made official by the end of September. Deutsche Bank did not want to comment on the Handelsblatt, and they also tried to contact the US authorities at the weekend, but received no information.
Reserves and waiver of remuneration of the board members
However, Deutsche Bank is said to have set aside 165 million euros in “provision for lawsuits with supervisory authorities” in the second quarter. In addition, ten board members of the bank are to forego EUR 75,000 each of their variable remuneration because of the misconduct, reports the Handelsblatt.
Two years ago, Deutsche Bank announced that it wanted to integrate WhatsApp into its own communication software, Symphony. Transfer, account balance query and more should be easily possible via chat. Initially, it was all about communication with employees. It also said that the messages are end-to-end encrypted, but the conversations are being recorded on the bank’s side as this is a legal requirement.
However, WhatsApp allows the subsequent deletion of messages. Therefore, the messenger does not meet the requirements of the US authorities. There are also concerns about possible security gaps, as there does not appear to have been sufficient separation between personal and business apps and devices.
(emw)
