A senior investment banker at Credit Suisse in New York was fired after unauthorized messaging to clients.
A U.S. government investigation of Wall Street record-keeping practices ensnared Credit Suisse's ex-global head of equity capital markets syndicate Anthony Kontoleon in New York, according to a report in the «Financial Times.»
Credit Suisse elected to remove the banker from his position in April and is leaving the bank where he was for 28 years. An audit of dozens of Credit Suisse bankers found that he used personal messaging apps for client communications, although he did not reveal inappropriate information, according to the «FT.»
In April, Credit Suisse's head of global equity and debt capital markets was informed that the banker would be leaving «to pursue other opportunities.» Both the banker and Credit Suisse declined to comment to the news outlet on the matter.
SEC Investigation
In March, Credit Suisse said it was cooperating with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which was investigating the bank's record-keeping compliance requirements. These related to communications via messaging channels that were not approved.
People familiar with the matter indicated that Credit Suisse's management hoped that the departure would be seen by regulators that it was taking such matters seriously. In December, Credit Suisse asked employees to grant access to their personal devices if they were used to communicate with clients.
Text messaging among financial professionals is ubiquitous and became even more so during the pandemic. «During the pandemic, people got so accustomed to just texting outside of the controlled environment,» a senior Wall Street banker told the «Financial Times».
That has prompted bankers to use the «Movius» messaging app which logs all messages and records calls.
