Data compliance, email archiving and eDiscovery have been thrown into the spotlight during the recent court case taken by AIG Insurance against Bank of America, and have proven just how vital these technologies are to companies.
AIG Lawsuit proves need for email archiving compliance
Lawmakers have picked the entire private internal email archive at Bank of America subsidiary Countrywide apart during a court case worth $10.5 billion, filed by AIG Insurances. Executive Countrywide emails that were sent before Countrywide’s much publicized collapse have been detailed in court, as AIG sued Bank of America (Parent company of Countrywide) over fraudulent sales practices. Countrywide’s collapse was a very high profile case after the mortgage market issues which developed as a result of the financial crisis. The lawsuit by AIG alleges that top executives at the company knew that certain loans were being given to person’s who could not afford to pay them back, and so have contributed greatly to the credit crisis.
Email archiving protects your business from stiff penalties
This court case highlights the importance of email archiving and eDiscovery. While it has been used against Bank of America in this case, had the bank not been able to produce these records then they would have been in a whole other world of trouble for breaching compliance laws. Every business is mandated under legislation to keep a backup and archive of company records so that they can be used when called upon in legal cases. Email communications are classed as company records, and so businesses are mandated to have some form of archiving system in place. eDiscovery is also essential when trawling through potentially millions of emails looking for certain emails in particular.
Had Bank of America not been able to produce these records, they could have been fined billions by the state for breaching data compliance laws, and also have suffered great reputational damage.
Being able to produce email archives for evidence, either for the protection of your company or for the courts, is not only a prudent policy but also a legal requirement.
Learn more about Jatheon’s email archiving solutions
