During the epidemic, there has been a dramatic increase in the use of WhatsApp and similar messaging apps.
For months, US regulators have been investigating leading Wall Street banks and brokerages, searching for evidence that traders and dealmakers have been using unofficial messaging channels like WhatsApp and Signal to evade rules requiring them to preserve work communications.
This week, the world learned the price tag to resolve the probe: about $2bn. In addition to a $200mn settlement reached with JPMorgan Chase in December, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission said on Tuesday that Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse, UBS, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Nomura, Jefferies and Cantor Fitzgerald — would pay an additional $1.8bn.
Those are sizeable sums. But as big settlements go, it left a lot unsettled.
