NatWest Group has disabled messaging apps WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype on company devices in the UK to prevent employees from using them to interact with one another. The bank had already instructed staff to use "approved channels" for business-related conversations. However, it has now gone a step further, making the platforms inaccessible on work phones and computers. So-called off-channel communications are a recurrent issue in both business and politics, with fears that platforms like WhatsApp are used to limit the scrutiny that some conversations may face.
Unlike messages sent through authorized channels, which are fully retrievable and can be investigated if there is any suspicion of wrongdoing, messages sent through other channels may be hard to recover or even set to expire."Like many organizations, we only permit the use of approved channels for communicating about business matters, whether internally or externally," according to a statement from NatWest.It stated that the adjustment went into effect early this month. Banks in the United States have received fines totaling more than $2.8 billion (£2.18 billion) in recent years for violating record-keeping regulations, with employees unable to retrieve old communications from some messaging platforms.
Among the companies hit with fines are Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo. It was reported in August that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK banking regulator, is looking into how bank employees use messaging applications. It follows a fine levied by energy regulator Ofgem to Morgan Stanley for calls made on private phones using WhatsApp, which violated record-keeping regulations. Outside of banks, there have been concerns about public-sector employees using apps, with questions raised about how ministers have used WhatsApp for official business in recent years. The UK Covid inquiry discovered that officials and ministers had deleted WhatsApp communications exchanged throughout the outbreak.
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