Deutsche Bank is installing an app on some of its employees’ phones that lets it monitor their calls, texts and WhatsApp messages, according to the Financial Times.
The bank has spent the last few weeks installing the app from US firm Movius on work phones so that its compliance teams can keep an eye on communications with clients, says the FT, citing sources. Deutsche Bank has not commented.
The move comes as regulators in the US, UK and Germany all step up their interest in client communications.
The FT has previously reported that a former executive at Deutsche Bank’s asset management unit has cited WhatsApp use in a whistleblower complaint to Germany’s BaFin, which has recently asked the bank for details on how employees use messaging apps.
In December, the SEC and CFTC fined JPMorgan Chase a total of $200 million for allowing Wall Street employees to use apps including WhatsApp to get around US federal record-keeping laws.
Meanwhile, both HSBC and Credit Suisse have dismissed staffers over inappropriate messaging.
