Numerous major banks, including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, Barclays, UBS, and Deutsche Bank, have been fined by US regulators (SEC and CFTC) since 2021 for failing to prevent employees from using WhatsApp and other personal messaging apps for business communications, violating record-keeping rules and leading to billions in total penalties for pervasive "off-channel" communications.
Eleven Wall Street firms will pay a combined $549 million in penalties over failure to properly maintain electronic records of their employee communications. The SEC's charges draw into question the use of messages sent by employees through side channels such as WhatsApp and Signal, CNBC reports.
WhatsApp fined 225 million Euros for violations of the GDPR
The sanctions are imposed for violating the transparency principle and requirements under the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac)
On 21 October 2020, the Federal Court declared that Westpac had breached the AML/CTF Act on over 19 million occasions, and ordered Westpac to pay the $1.3 billion penalty. Information about this penalty includes: Media release – 21 October 2020.
Morgan Stanley has been fined £5.41m ($6.9m) after energy traders discussed business over WhatsApp on private phones. Regulator Ofgem said the bank breached rules requiring firms to record messages linked to energy trading.
That begs the $22 billion question: Why did the social media giant break the bank to buy WhatsApp? With a shared mission of enhancing global connectivity via internet services, this merging of forces will likely accelerate growth for both companies. For Zuckerberg, user growth comes first and monetization later.
You get replies to messages you never sent. Friends complain about strange messages coming from your account. You notice deleted messages in chats, including from yourself — even though you never sent or deleted anything there. You receive a WhatsApp login verification code that you didn't request or expect.
National Australia Bank (NAB) has ranked first as the safest bank in Australasia and number 16 in the world, the Rankings of the World's 50 Safest Banks report from Global Finance has found.
Westpac's record $1.3 billion AUSTRAC money laundering fine explained. Westpac has agreed to pay the largest fine in Australian corporate history — a $1.3 billion civil penalty for more than 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering laws.
Top Money Laundering Statistics in 2025
WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption is used when you chat with another person using WhatsApp Messenger. End-to-end encryption keeps your personal messages and calls between you and the person you're communicating with. No one outside of the chat, not even WhatsApp, can read, listen to, or share them.
In February 2014 Facebook bought the messaging app WhatsApp for $19 billion (£11.4bn), which is 19x times more than what the company paid for the photo based social media platform Instagram.
WhatsApp bans GBWhatsApp users because it's an unofficial mod that violates WhatsApp's terms of service, posing security and privacy risks.
We do not retain data for law enforcement purposes unless we receive a valid preservation request before a user has deleted that content from our service. In the ordinary course of providing our service, WhatsApp does not store messages once they are delivered or transaction logs of such delivered messages.
Each message incurs a fee to send (although consumers can receive and interact with them for free), therefore earning WhatsApp revenue that funds all the free usage across the globe and makes a healthy profit.
Top 10 Countries with the Most WhatsApp Users
Top 20 FCA fines so far
Australia's most famous prisoners often blur the line between outlaw hero and notorious criminal, with Ned Kelly (the legendary bushranger) and the cannibal convict Alexander Pearce being top contenders for historical notoriety, while modern figures like gangland boss Carl Williams and career criminal Lenny McPherson also hold infamy.
Federal Court delivers historic $90 million fine to Qantas for 1,820 illegal dismissals. Qantas has been ordered to pay the 'largest fine in Australian industrial relations law history' for illegally sacking 1,820 of its employees during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you are an Australian tax resident and you have an account in a financial institution overseas, we will receive your information from the tax authority of that jurisdiction. All information reported under these laws is handled in the strictest confidence by the ATO and foreign tax authorities.
Finding a standard savings account with a consistent 7% interest rate is rare in early 2026; however, banks like First Direct and Co-operative Bank (in the UK) offer 7% or higher on regular saver accounts, often tied to specific conditions like monthly deposits and limited withdrawal periods, while U.S. high-yield online banks offer around 4-4.35%, not 7%. For 7%+, you'll typically look at niche products, crypto, or international options, which often come with higher risk or complex conditions, not standard savings.
To earn $1,000 a month, you generally need an investment portfolio of $240,000 if targeting a 5% annual yield, but this varies significantly by investment type, requiring $100k-$200k for high-yield stocks, $250k-$400k for diversified stocks, or $100k-$150k for high-yield ETFs, all dependent on the portfolio's yield and your risk tolerance.
Scammers target WhatsApp because it offers a direct connection to potential identity theft victims worldwide.
Start by deleting unknown apps, updating your software, and running a security scan. Change passwords to any affected accounts and turn on 2FA. If you believe your phone has been hacked, start by removing any suspicious apps, updating your phone, and getting access back to any hacked accounts.
Even though WhatsApp boasts powerful end-to-end encryption, hackers usually go after you, not the app, by taking advantage of common security slip-ups. Their goal? Spying on your messages, impersonating you, or even scamming your contacts.