German financial watchdog BaFin ordered it Deutsche Bank to explain how his employees use private messaging on WhatsApp for business purposes, which is part of a global effort to curb the practice of mixing business with personal life.
According to a Bloomberg report Monday (May 16), top Deutsche Bank executives, including board members, have relied on WhatsApp, other messaging tools and personal email accounts to conduct business, people familiar with the matter said.
BaFin wants to ensure Deutsche Bank officials comply with banking rules, the sources said. The request comes at a time when Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing has spent billions of dollars fixing the bank’s controls and improving relationships with regulators.
Sewing is among those who have used WhatsApp to communicate about Deutsche Bank affairs, including with German businessman Daniel Wruck, whose role in the bank’s and its investment arm DWS’ business transactions is now under scrutiny by German investigators.
“We do not comment on our dialogue with regulators,” a Deutsche Bank spokesman wrote in an email to Bloomberg. A BaFin spokesman declined to comment on the report.
According to Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank has launched an internal investigation into the use of private emails by DWS CEO Asoka Wöhrmann and recently reminded employees not to delete any business-related WhatsApp messages.
The German lender has also rolled out a new tool since April to improve communications monitoring on private channels by recording and archiving them, one person told Bloomberg.
Related: WhatsApp Development Subscription Plan for Business App
Meanwhile, WhatsApp has been working to offer business subscription plans that allow multiple employees from the same company to chat with a single customer at the same time. The plan also allows employees to connect up to 10 devices instead of the four currently allowed.
The latest report on multi-user options also said that WhatsApp will continue to work for free. The messaging app is owned by Facebook.
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