NatWest Group blocks staff from using WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype

NatWest Group staff will no longer be able to use the messaging services WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Skype from their corporate devices in the UK to communicate with each other, NatWest confirmed in a statement.

NatWest had previously asked workers to use only “approved channels,” but it has now confirmed the move by making the messaging platforms inaccessible from devices owned by the company.

NatWest said in a statement changes came into effect earlier this month and added: “Like many organisations, we only permit the use of approved channels for communicating about business matters, whether internally or externally,”

The move comes as off-channel communications have become a growing concern in the business world.

Although social media channels such as WhatsApp and Facebook are encrypted, they offer setting changes that allow messages to be deleted or disappeared, making recovery difficult and in some cases impossible.

By giving the ability to delete entire conversations, they make it more challenging to detect malfeasance within the company.

Financial institutions need to be in line with document retention regulations and have recoverable communications, and in the past they have already found themselves in difficulty in dealing with the situation arising from the use of these messaging services.

During the past years, financial institutions including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citigroup had to pay hefty fines over record-keeping rules, with BBC reporting a total of more than $2.8 billion in fines filed against US banks so far in the past few years.

In the UK, energy regulator Ofgem fined Morgan Stanley £5.41 million for failing to record and retain electronic trading communications made via WhatsApp on privately-owned phones, with the breach occurring between January 2018 and March 2020.

According to the energy firm, unrecorded communications could compromise the integrity and transparency of the market, with Morgan Stanley accused of not taking enough steps to support these regulations. Morgan Stanley said the firm has taken measures to prevent future breaches with a range of initiatives including staff training and enhanced internal controls.

In August, the Financial Conduct Authority said in a statement it was considering an investigation into how banks are using encrypted messaging for work communications, putting UK firms under increased scrutiny.

The issue not only regards the business world, but politics have been recently affected by the habit. Staff have been using apps in the public sector, with the UK Covid inquiry revealing ministers including former PM Boris Johnson were using WhatsApp for government business in recent years, and deleted WhatsApp messages exchanged during the pandemic.