U.S. Bancorp and 15 others fined $81 million for record-keeping failures by SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced charges against 16 financial companies for failing to properly maintain and preserve electronic communications, with the companies agreeing to pay a total of more than $81 million in civil penalties. The regulator said employees of these companies used “off-channel” communications, like personal text messaging services, to discuss clients and business transactions, rather than official company platforms. “Today’s actions against these 16 firms result from ...