The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday, Sept. 26, edition that four unnamed sources say the Securities and Exchange Commission is escalating its probe into Wall Street's use of private-messaging apps. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that the two-year crackdown into potential breaches of record-keeping rules initially targeted broker dealers, netting regulators over $2-billion (U.S.) in fines. The SEC began to probe Wall Street's record-keeping problem when JPMorgan failed to provide documents from at least 2018 pertaining to an unrelated probe. In 2021 JPMorgan agreed to pay the SEC $125-million (U.S.) to resolve charges over record-keeping lapses. The SEC's "offchannel" communication probe has expanded to investment advisers. It marks an escalation of the investigation and raises the stakes for the companies and the executives concerned by exposing their conduct to SEC scrutiny. The probe is shaping up to be SEC chairman Gary Gensler's signature Wall Street enforcement initiative, netting multiple big names including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The SEC began approaching investment advisers in October, 2022. Some observers have called the SEC's request "invasive."