For more
than four years, the firm
relied exclusively on electronic storage media to preserve its
business-related electronic
communications. The firm’s
electronic storage media system was
deficient because such
communications could be deleted from the system prior to being
preserved in the requisite
non-rewritable, non-erasable format.
In contravention of its WSPs,
the firm permitted Conyers, its president and CCO, to use a
personal email address, through
his handheld communication device, to send and receive
business-related electronic
communications, which were not captured by the firm’s system and
thus were not retained
nor reviewed by the firm, unless they were sent to or from a
firm-provided email address.
The firm failed to evidence its
review of its business-related
electronic communications, in violation of its WSPs.
Through Conyers, the Firm permitted non-registered persons to act in
a capacity requiring
registration as a principal; and permitted non-registered persons
to accept or approve a total of more than 300 new customer
accounts. As a result, the firm failed to maintain records signed by a principal
who had accepted or
approved new customer accounts.
First Bermuda Securities (BVI) Ltd.: Censured; Fined $10,000 jt/sev with Conyers; Fined additional $40,000
Jeffrey Gerald Conyers: Censured; Fined $10,000 jt/sev with First Bermuda;