Deutsche Bank has banned its employees from text messaging and using communication apps like WhatsApp, iMessage, and Google Talk on company-issued phones and personal phones used for work purposes. The policy, which would come into effect this quarter, has been implemented to "ensure Deutsche Bank continues to comply with regulatory and legal requirements."

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Deutsche Bank Chief Regulatory Officer Sylvie Matherat and Chief Operating Officer Kim Hammonds told the company's staff in a memo that they understand that the deactivation will change everybody's day-to-day work and that they regret any inconvenience the policy may cause. According to a person with knowledge on the matter, text messages cannot be archived by the bank, unlike e-mails, thus provoking the move.

Deutsche Bank has been working to improve compliance and heal its reputation from dents caused by a series of probes into its role in the sale of toxic debt, manipulation of interest-rate benchmarks, and failure to prevent money laundering in Russia.

Deutsche Bank Chief Executive Officer John Cryan reached a $7.2 billion agreement in principle last month with the Department of Justice to start an investigation into the bank's sales of mortgage securities before the financial crisis.

The bank has also been slapped with fines and legal settlements of more than $13.9 billion since the start of the year 2008, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

In July 2012, the bank had accidentally destroyed 482 tapes of telephone calls that the UK Financial Conduct Authority had ordered the company to preserve. The authority then adopted rules in 2010 to force banks to record and store traders' mobile-phone calls for six months. One investment bank said that it would cost 500,000 pounds to monitor the calls of 50 users.