Summary via TLDRThis:

Banks with employees covertly texting about official business on apps like Signal, WhatsApp, and iMessage have been caught red-handed.

Wells Fargo was hit with the biggest fines, agreeing to pay the SEC a $125 million penalty and the CFTC another $75 million.

Ars reached out to the firms fined, but most declined to comment.

Only Wells Fargo responded to say, “We’re pleased to resolve this matter.” [

It seems likely the banks will crack down on employees texting, but in case they don’t, the agencies also ordered firms “to retain independent compliance consultants to, among other things, conduct comprehensive reviews of their policies and procedures relating to the retention of electronic communications found on personal devices and their respective frameworks for addressing non-compliance by their employees with those policies and procedures.”