Banker acquitted for destruction of evidence after deleting WhatsApp messages.

10th October 2020 by Brielle Hewitt

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The latest news coming from the city is a big blow for the FCA with a not-guilty verdict for ex VTB Capital banker, Mr Konstantin Vishnyak. In a first of its kind case, Vishnyak was to be charged with ‘destruction of documents of offence’ in September 2019, after he deleted his WhatsApp messages before handing his phone to authorities, in relation to investigations on insider dealing. The ruling of not guilty this week has left officials at the FCA feeling

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“disappointed with the outcome” but they “respected the verdict”.

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This case raises multiple questions around what Firms’ responsibilities are when monitoring chatter from employees, to ensure protection of not only the business and investors, but also to meet regulatory requirements. Lines are blurring around communication channels being work related and personal, but the message from the FCA is clear. Firms within the sector have a responsibility to ensure all communication channels are captured and supervised to maintain compliance. When the regulators come knocking at Firms’ doors with questions, they will need to be ready to answer with all the requested information or expect further investigation and potential legal action.

For those striving to follow regulatory requirements, trawling through mountains of unstructured data from multiple channels can be an overwhelming and daunting task. Processes are almost always clunky, inefficient and incoherent, more often than not providing unsatisfactory outcomes. Compliance departments are being driven to distraction with ever expanding and complex communication channels to have to supervise. Company directors and boards are being asked to present coherent and extensive information with short lead times in order to ensure responsibilities are being met.

So how as a business, how do you process, monitor and provide required information and reports from within your firms’ multiple communications repositories– cost effectively, and in line with regulatory requirements?

The answer is simple. Our Fingerprint Supervision software. Powered by sophisticated algorithms and security structures, created by industry experts. Fingerprint is a revolutionary, seamless, all-encompassing compliance and supervision platform, driven to exceed the requirements of Firms across the Finance sector.

For more information on how we can help with your data supervision processes and systems, please contact Sean Morgan at: sean@fingerprint-supervision or call on 0203 011 4150.