Bank Blocks Staff From Using WhatsApp & Facebook Messenger

Uploaded on 2024-11-13 in TECHNOLOGY-Key Areas-Social Media, FREE TO VIEW, BUSINESS-Services-Financial

One of the UK’s biggest banks the NatWest Group has recently blocked messaging services WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype on their devices to stop staff using them to communicate with each other.

NatWest has taken action in an effort to stick to rules over workers' use of unauthorised electric messaging as well as avoid heavy regulatory penalties.

The bank had already told employees to only use approved channels for conversations about business matters, however, it has now gone further and made the platforms inaccessible on work phones and computers. The changes came into effect this month.

So-called off-channel communications are a persistent problem in both business and politics, with concerns that services such as WhatsApp are used to reduce the scrutiny some conversations can be subject to.
Messages can be difficult to retrieve or even set to disappear, whereas those sent via approved channels are fully retrievable, which means they can be checked into if there is apparent wrongdoing.

"Like many organisations, we only permit the use of approved channels for communicating about business matters, whether internally or externally," NatWest said in a statement.

In comment, Shash Anand, SVP of Product Strategy at the leading Enterprise Mobility Management firm SOTI said “As organisations like NatWest work to strengthen compliance and transparency, secure communication has become a critical priority. Across regulated sectors like banking, there is a growing recognition of the need for greater visibility and control over the platforms employees use...

...Today’s businesses must be able to effectively manage devices, monitor communication channels, and enforce policies that align with regulatory standards. By adopting secure, centralised mobile management solutions, companies can achieve the necessary oversight to protect data integrity and ensure compliance - without compromising productivity or collaboration.” Anand said.

In the US, several major banks have incurred regulatory costing them more than $2.8bn over the past few years over breaches of record-keeping rules, with workers found to be unable to retrieve old messages from some messaging services. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup were amongst those to be issued with penalties.

The change at NatWest comes almost three years after the issue reached peak in the US when financial services regulators began fining firms over record-keeping rules being breached as company staff were sending messages that could not be recovered.

Image: @NatWestBusiness

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