U.S. fines 16 major Wall Street firms $1.1 billion over recordkeeping failures

(Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday fined 15 broker-dealers and one investment adviser, including Barclays, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS, a combined $1.1 billion over failing to maintain and preserve electronic communications.

"The firms admitted the facts set forth in their respective SEC orders, acknowledged that their conduct violated recordkeeping provisions of the federal securities laws... and have begun implementing improvements to their compliance policies and procedures to settle these matters," it said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington; writing by Costas Pitas; Editing by Caitlin Webber)