A group of alternative investment firms, including most of the leading private equity managers, are the latest targets of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) efforts to combat financial industry firms’ use of private texting, which violates recordkeeping rules.

The SEC settled with 12 firms (nine investment advisors and three broker-dealers) — primarily firms in the alternative investment sector — which agreed to pay a combined US$63 million to resolve the regulator’s allegations that, since at least 2019, their employees used unapproved communications methods, such as private texting and other apps, for business communications that are required to be captured by their firms. READ MORE