Fifth Third Bancorp in Cincinnati agreed to pay $8 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle claims that employees used unapproved channels for business communications.
The $213 billion-asset company warned earlier this year that its investment advisory and broker-dealer units were cooperating with an SEC probe into its compliance with “certain record-keeping requirements for business-related electronic communications on unapproved channels.”
Fifth Third, in its quarterly filing, said “other prospective relief” may come after the SEC penalty. The Commodities Futures Trading Commission has also been looking into similar compliance issues at companies.
KeyCorp in Cleveland disclosed last week that it is “engaged in settlement negotiations with the SEC” about record-keeping, while U.S. Bancorp in Minneapolis said it “is in resolution discussions with the SEC” over similar matters.
Separately, Fifth Third said it is cooperating with “several civil investigative demands” from state attorneys general looking into the lending practices of Dividend Solar Finance. Fifth Third bought the company in May 2022.