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Deutsche Bank Switches Off Text Messaging (smh.com.au)
Deutsche Bank has banned text messages and communication apps such as WhatsApp on company-issued phones in an effort to improve compliance standards. From a report: The functionality will be switched off this quarter, chief regulatory officer Sylvie Matherat and chief operating officer Kim Hammonds told staff in a memo. Unlike emails, text messages can't be archived by the bank, said a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. "We fully understand that the deactivation will change your day-to-day work and we regret any inconvenience this may cause," Matherat and Hammonds said in the memo. "However, this step is necessary to ensure Deutsche Bank continues to comply with regulatory and legal requirements." The policy also applies to private phones used by employees for work purposes. Communication apps such as WhatsApp, Google Talk, iMessage are also prohibited, the memo said.
Only about half of large organizations allow BYOD. See the graph here.
Given the regulatory requirements this makes sense. At one major US financial institution, where I worked, this is the norm, because the risk of information leakage is an issue. You even need to use application such as Mobile Iron or Good for accessing company e-mail. Company issued iPhones had the the essentials an nothing more, with certificates limiting what you could do with the phone.
At the same time, there was a move towards BYOD, which does provide a bit of a chink in the wall, but still requires Mobile Iron or Good for accessing company e-mail and a certificate limiting certain operations. You can't copy/paste from Mobile Iron or Good, for example.
These companies need to show to regulators that they are meeting requirements and maybe even going slightly beyond. All e-mail in and out is recorded for 7 years.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.