What is Movius app?

A British daily recently reported that officials of Deutsche bank have been told to install an application called ‘Movius’. The aim was to keep a tab on their communication with clients.

In the age of remote working, Movius allows companies to keep a track of employees’ contact with clients, especially in regulated banking roles that warrant strict monitoring. Movius is a US mobile application that tracks private communication like WhatsApp texts, messages and phone calls.

In Movius CEO Ananth Siva’s own words, the app is designed to provide firms with compliant, reliable mobile communications that enable employees to interact with their clients.

It is often natural and instinctive for bankers to use private messaging apps and emails to establish good client relationships. However, most leading banks have policies that bar employees from doing so and mandate them to only use work-related channels to communicate with clients. Breaking such norms may invite action.

Tier-1 global banks have been rattled after a series of regulatory investigations forced bankers to quit for using private channels to communicate with clients. Last year, JP Morgan paid a hefty fine of $200 million for failure to protect staff communications on apps and emails. Similarly, Credit Suisse, earlier this year, fired a banker after he used a private channel to communicate with clients.

As part of wider scrutiny, Deutsche Bank reportedly resorted to Movius for monitoring private messages and calls of employees. Similarly, JP Morgan is also said to have insisted that employees use Movius for business communication.