HSBC has fired a London-based trader following an investigation into the use of inappropriate messaging applications with clients as banks come under increasing pressure to clamp down on unauthorised communications.
The departure is the latest in a swath of bankers losing their jobs over the way they communicate with clients, following regulatory pressure on banks to police their workers’ personal messaging habits.
The HSBC dismissal, which was first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, followed an investigation by the bank’s London compliance team this year into the way staff were using messaging tools such as WhatsApp.