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City watchdog fines banker for using WhatsApp in industry first

City of London - AFP
City of London - AFP

The UK's financial watchdog has fined a former investment banker more than £37,000 after he used WhatsApp to leak information and "impress" a friend. 

Former Jefferies investment banker Christopher Niehaus "failed to act with due skill, care and diligence" after sharing client information with a friend and personal acquaintance between January and May last year, the Financial Conduct Authority said. 

WhatsApp controversies

This is the first time the mobile messaging app, which was founded in 2009 and bought by Facebook for $19bn in 2014, has been flagged in an FCA fine. 

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The regulator said that Mr Niehaus told a friend and client details about a competitor. These included the identity of a client, details of the client's mandate, and the fees Jefferies had planned to charge because he "wanted to impress the people that he shared the information with", the FCA said. 

Monthly active users - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp

He also "boasted about how he may be able to pay off his mortgage if one of the deals was successful", the FCA found. 

His fine, which came to £37,198, would have exceeded £50,000 had he not agreed to settle early and given a full admission in an early interview. 

Mr Niehaus was head of industrials investment banking at UBS and previously head of its Johannesburg office before joining Jefferies as a managing director in 2015.

Jefferies declined to comment. 

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