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Wells Fargo & Co. has agreed to pay a $35 million penalty to settle allegations that it overcharged greater than 10,900 funding advisory accounts, the Securities and Trade Fee stated.
The overcharges at two Wells Fargo models amounted to over $26.8 million in advisory charges, the SEC stated in a press release Friday.
Sure monetary advisors “agreed to scale back the corporations’ commonplace, pre-set advisory charges for sure purchasers and made handwritten or typed modifications on the purchasers’ funding advisory agreements that mirrored the diminished charges on the time their accounts have been opened,” the regulator stated in its order.
The financial institution didn’t admit to or deny the regulator’s allegations.
“We’re happy to resolve this matter,” Caroline Szyperski, a Wells Fargo spokesperson, stated in a press release. “The method that brought about this challenge was corrected almost a decade in the past. And, as famous within the settlement paperwork, Wells Fargo Advisors carried out a radical evaluate of accounts and has absolutely reimbursed affected prospects.”
From 2002 by means of 2014, the financial institution and its predecessor corporations would often agree to scale back the charges charged to advisory purchasers on the time they opened accounts, the SEC alleged. These charge cuts have been both handwritten or typed onto the agency’s commonplace funding advisory agreements, however at occasions they weren’t really applied.
In consequence, hundreds of accounts have been overcharged, the regulator claimed. The overcharging continued till final yr. In June, Wells Fargo paid the affected accounts $39 million in reimbursed charges with curiosity.
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