(Bloomberg) -- Societe Generale SA has been drawn into the industry-wide investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission whether banks’ staff have made use of unauthorized communication channels.

The French lender’s US unit received an information request from the SEC “focused on compliance with record-keeping requirements in connection with business-related communications on messaging platforms that were not approved by the firm,” it said Wednesday. 

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“The inquiry follows a number of regulatory settlements in 2022 with other firms covering similar matters,” Societe Generale said, adding it’s “cooperating with the investigation.”

US regulators have already announced more than $2 billion in total penalties in the matter, and have expanded their probe to include hedge funds and asset management firms. They’re worried that the rapid spread of messaging services such as WhatsApp undermines a requirement for finance firms to archive business-related communications, opening the door for misconduct to go unnoticed.

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