Last month, the SEC announced that it settled cases with an additional 11 prominent Wall Street firms due to widespread failures in maintaining and preserving electronic communications. Sandra Hanna, lead of Miller & Chevalier's Securities Enforcement practice, offered insights into the implications of these charges for both financial institutions and other companies.  

Hanna predicts that once off-channel record-keeping systems become adopted and operational, she anticipates that "individual supervisors could also face personal liability" for alleged supervisory failures if those systems are not fit for purposes. Additionally, Hanna discussed the DOJ's expectation that all companies – not just financial institutions – provide responsive documents to the government and that there is an "opportunity here for compliance officers to proactively consider a personal device policy."