REUTERS/Jim Bourg/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. securities regulator on Friday said it had fined 12 companies, including brokers, investment advisers and credit rating firms, for record keeping failures. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the companies, including Interactive Brokers Corp, Fifth Third Securities and Nuveen Securities, agreed to pay a total of $79 million and admitted they violated the record keeping rules. Credit rating agencies DBRS Inc. and Kroll Bond Rating Agency, LLC also agreed to pay civil penalties to settle SEC charges related to the record-keeping failures, the regulator added. Employees at both firms failed to preserve electronic communications, including off-channel messages on personal and work-issued devices, the SEC said. To settle the charges, DBRS agreed to pay $8 million in civil penalties and KBRA agreed to pay $4 million in civil penalties, the SEC said.

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Persons: Jim Bourg, Kroll, DBRS, KBRA, Chris Prentice, Carolina, Barbara Lewis Organizations: U.S . Securities, Exchange Commission, SEC, REUTERS, Securities, Interactive Brokers Corp, Fifth Third Securities, Nuveen Securities, Reuters, Wall, DBRS Inc, Kroll Bond Rating Agency, Employees, Thomson Locations: Washington, U.S