Wells Fargo repays clients $40 million for excessive investment advice fees

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Wells Fargo paid back $40 million to almost 11,000 customers who for years were overcharged on fees for investment advice, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Friday.

The bank also agreed to pay a $35 million civil penalty to settle SEC charges. Wells Fargo neither admitted nor denied the allegations, the agency said.

Certain Wells Fargo financial advisors — including those from legacy firms acquired during a merger — agreed to reduce some clients' standard advisory fees at the time their accounts were opened, according to the SEC.

However, internal systems failed to account for those reduced advisory fees in some cases, the SEC said. As a result, Wells Fargo overcharged 10,945 accounts — which were opened prior to 2014 — for many years, through the end of last December, the SEC said.

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According to the agency, the bank's $40 million reimbursement to affected customers includes more than $26.8 million in excessive fees plus interest.

The bank and predecessor firms — AG Edwards and Wachovia — didn't have written policies and procedures to prevent this overbilling, the SEC said. (AG Edwards and Wachovia merged in 2007; Wells Fargo and Wachovia then did so in 2008.)

«For years, Wells Fargo and its predecessor firms negotiated reduced advisory fees with thousands of clients, but failed to honor them,» Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC's enforcement division, said in a written statement.

Caroline Szyperski, a spokesperson for Wells Fargo, said the firm is «pleased to resolve this