Dee Anne Sjögren Comments on SEC Crackdown of Wall Street E-Communications With Bloomberg Law

Bloomberg Law turned to investment management partner Dee Anne Sjögren for insight on the Securities Exchange Commission’s (SEC) scrutiny toward Wall Street’s use of communication platforms such as WhatsApp, Signal and iMessage. 

The article noted that Biden-era crackdowns on the use of such platforms have continued under the new administration, including a sprawling WhatsApp investigation led by the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that resulted in deals for several financial institutions. Sjögren said that such investigations and agreements often lead to sizable penalties. She added that such investigations can significantly burden financiers, who often seek different avenues of communication with clients aside from traditional phone and email methods. 

“I have had some real-world cases of clients discovering disturbing issues, especially with younger representatives’ use of social media and off-channel communications,” Sjögren said. “I also have clients who do a lot of business overseas, and they’ve been stymied by not being able to use WhatsApp.”