Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network LLC will pay more than $3.4 million in restitution to clients to whom volatility-linked exchange-traded products were unsuitably recommended.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ordered the payment of restitution, after finding that certain Wells Fargo & Co. representatives recommended the ETPs between July 2010 and May 2012, without fully understanding the risks. The watchdog also found failure of supervision on the part of Wells Fargo, although it acknowledged the company had worked to correct the deficiencies even before the issue was detected by FINRA.
Wells Fargo neither admitted nor denied the charges as part of the settlement.