NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said it fined several Wells Fargo & Co businesses, RBC Capital Markets, LPL Financial and others a combined $14.4 million on Wednesday for record-keeping problems that may have allowed company and customer documents to be altered.

The securities industry's self-regulator found that the firms failed to keep hundreds of millions of electronic documents in a "write once, read many" format, which would have made it impossible to alter or destroy records after they were written.

The firms agreed to the fines but neither admitted nor denied the charges.

FINRA did not say documents had been changed but said the records were "pivotal to the firms' brokerage businesses."

The regulator fined Wells Fargo's securities, prime brokerage, brokerage and independent wealth management businesses. It also named RBS Securities, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Georgeson Securities Corp and PNC Capital Markets.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Elsie Wilkinson said the firm took record-keeping compliance seriously.

"We self-reported these issues to FINRA and continue to remediate as agreed," Wilkinson said in an emailed statement.

RBC, LPL and the other companies named did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2016. Follow Reuters on Twitter. </s> A Wells Fargo Bank is shown in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., September 26, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said it fined several Wells Fargo & Co businesses, RBC Capital Markets, LPL Financial and others a combined $14.4 million on Wednesday for record-keeping problems that may have allowed company and customer documents to be altered.

The securities industry’s self-regulator found that the firms failed to keep hundreds of millions of electronic documents in a “write once, read many” format, which would have made it impossible to alter or destroy records after they were written.

The firms agreed to the fines but neither admitted nor denied the charges.

FINRA did not say documents had been changed but said the records were “pivotal to the firms’ brokerage businesses,” and that it relies on these files to ensure firms are following securities laws.

The regulator said it also is concerned about the security of the records because hackers in recent years have aggressively targeted banks’ electronic storage databases.

The regulator fined Wells Fargo’s securities and prime brokerage businesses $4 million, and the bank’s brokerage and independent wealth management businesses $1.5 million. FINRA also fined RBS Securities, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Georgeson Securities Corp and PNC Capital Markets amounts ranging from $2 million to $500,000.

Wells Fargo spokeswoman Elise Wilkinson said the firm took record-keeping compliance seriously.

“We self-reported these issues to FINRA and continue to remediate as agreed,” she said in an emailed statement.

RBC declined to comment. LPL and the other companies named did not immediately respond to requests for comment. </s> The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) announced on Wednesday it has fined 12 firms a total of US$14.4 million for record keeping deficiencies that violated federal securities laws and regulatory rules.

FINRA found deficiencies in the preservation of records in a format that prevents those records from being altered. The firms failed to maintain certain electronic records in "write once, read many" (WORM) format, which prevents the alteration or destruction of records stored electronically, FINRA says in a statement. The WORM deficiencies affected millions, and in some cases, hundreds of millions, of records, FINRA adds.

The sanctioned firms include: RBC Capital Markets LLC and RBC Capital Markets Arbitrage S.A., which were jointly fined US$3.5 million; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC and Wells Fargo Prime Services, LLC, which were jointly fined US$4 million; and, RBS Securities, Inc., which was fined US$2 million.

The firms settled the cases without admitting or denying the charges, but consented to the entry of FINRA's findings.

"These disciplinary actions are a result of FINRA's focus on ensuring that firms maintain accurate, complete and adequately protected electronic records. Ensuring the integrity of these records is critical to the investor protection function because they are a primary means by which regulators examine for misconduct in the securities industry," says Brad Bennett, executive vice president and chief of enforcement at FINRA, in a statement. </s> The year 2016 will not end on a high for Wells Fargo, by the look of things. FINRA has fined the bank, as well as a few other institutions, for a combined US$14.4 million. Apparently, all of these banks suffer from record-keeping problems that could have lead to company and customer documents to be altered. … Continue reading FINRA Fines Various Banks Over Bad Record-Keeping Practices

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Also, Like us on facebook </s> A billion-dollar fine is big, for sure, but the bank still faces costs to keep its risk-management system in compliance with regulators.

A billion-dollar fine is big, for sure, but the bank still faces costs to keep its risk-management system in compliance with regulators.

Wells Fargo & Co.'s $1 billion settlement with regulators already has some saying that this marks the end of a troubled period for the scandal-plagued bank. That might be wishful thinking.

Part of the reason for the optimism is the size of the fine. Wells Fargo paid only $185 million for its fake-account scandal, which impacted as many as 3.5 million customers. The current fines are for abuses that relate to about 600,000 auto borrowers who were wrongly charged, as well as a much smaller group of customers at its mortgage division. The excessive fees were generally around $1,000. In total, Wells Fargo estimates that it overcharged all of its auto borrowers by about $80 million going back to 2012. You could argue that the bank shouldn't have to pay a fine of more than 10 times the damage it did, which makes the $1 billion fee hefty indeed.

But the fake account scandal is an odd comparison because while a lot of customers were affected, very few were actually damaged. What's more, part of the settlement over that scandal included the bank firing more than 5,000 employees. There were no mass disciplinary actions in response to the auto-lending abuses. Also, the amount of damages to fines might not even be the right comparison.

Wells Fargo, from 2012 to 2016, made $3.1 billion from auto lending. Its consumer bank in the same time made over $60 billion, and overall the bank netted $100 billion. You can make the case that at least some portion of those profits came from the fact that what Wells Fargo was spending on oversight wasn't what it should have been. So fines to profits, rather than just what customers were overcharged, is likely the right comparison, and on that scale what Wells Fargo is paying isn't that large. After all, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is fining Wells Fargo not just for the abusive practices (which is says have stopped), but also for the lack of oversight of its business.

And that's the problem. It's not clear that the oversight issue has been fixed. This past February, the Federal Reserve sanctioned Wells Fargo for not having the correct risk management controls in place. The CFPB isn't convinced either. The settlement agreement includes a large action plan so the bank can prove to regulators that it has the right compliance system in place to make sure the bank's incentive structures don't spin it out of control in the future. That's going to take money, and there has been little evidence that Wells Fargo has dramatically increased what it spends on its risk management, even in the wake of these many scandals.

There's this, too: While Tim Sloan has repeatedly said Well's Fargo's problems are in the past, it's not clear management actually believes that. According to the bank's most recent financial statement, it still expects future legal fees and fines could result in billions more in charges.

Investors have been looking for Well Fargo to cut costs. In fact, the bank has pledged it will. That may please shareholders, but likely not regulators. And right now pleasing regulators may be the best way the bank can eventually please investors. </s> Remember when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) fined Wells Fargo $185 million for creating unapproved customer accounts to meet sales quotas last September? Under new legislation passed by the United States House of Representatives yesterday -- the Financial CHOICE (Creating Hope and Opportunity for Investors, Consumers and Entrepreneurs) Act -- the CFPB's power to regulate and fine the financial industry would be curtailed significantly. This could have an impact on real estate agents and brokers as the CFPB is tasked with not only enforcing new mortgage regulations under Dodd-Frank, but also regulations like RESPA, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act, which dictates how agents and brokers may interact financially with title and mortgage partners. The nearly-600-page bill with a 148-page comprehensive summary and a four-page executive summary is dense, to say the least, but can shed light on what the problems with the CFPB's regulatory powers currently... </s> Retail and commercial banking giant Wells Fargo will pay more than $185 million in fines after US regulators accused the bank of secretly opening accounts without customers' knowledge, officials said Thursday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said employees at Wells Fargo, the world's largest bank by market value, had illegally boosted sales figures by opening unauthorized deposit and credit accounts and then covertly funding them with customers' money, sometimes creating phony email addresses to enroll them.

This resulted in fees and other charges for customers and improperly helped bank employees meet sales targets and receive bonuses, according to the CFPB.

Wells Fargo will pay $100 million to the CFPB, the largest fine to date imposed by the bureau, which was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.

The San Francisco-based bank will pay $50 million to the City of Los Angeles, which had filed suit last year, accusing the bank of pressuring employees into fraudulent behavior, such as opening fictitious accounts.

The bank will also pay a $35 million fine to banking regulators at the Treasury Department in addition to fully compensating all customers concerned, the CFPB said in a statement.

“Today's action should serve notice to the entire industry that financial incentive programs, if not monitored carefully, carry serious risks that can have serious legal consequences," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement. </s> Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) has agreed to pay a $1-billion fine to the government related to abusive lending and auto insurance practices.

Wells Fargo said Friday that it has agreed to a $1-billion settlement with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that will reduce the company’s $5.9-billion in first-quarter profits by $800 million.

Wells Fargo committed violations related to its mandatory auto loan insurance program and charges for mortgage interest rate lock products, according to the CFPB. As part of the settlement, Wells Fargo agreed to change its policies and reimburse customers who were impacted.

“While we have more work to do, these orders affirm that we share the same priorities with our regulators and that we are committed to working with them as we deliver our commitments with focus, accountability, and transparency,” Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan said in a statement.

Wells Fargo has been dealing with regulatory fallout for nearly two years after employees were exposed for creating fraudulent accounts for millions of customers in an attempt to hit aggressive sales targets. The bank was fined $185 million in September 2016 in response to the accounts scandal. The bank also fired 5,300 employees and replaced CEO John Stumpf with Sloan.

Earlier this year, the Federal Reserve restricted Wells Fargo from growing its assets beyond its $2-trillion size until it can demonstrate is has adequately addressed “widespread consumer abuses.”

Some Americans were critical of the fine as yet another slap on the wrist for abuses from huge financial institutions.

Wells Fargo stock traded higher by 2 percent on Friday on investor optimism that, with legacy problems now behind the company, the regulatory environment could soon be much more favorable for big banks. The Trump administration has proposed cutting the funding for the CFPB — the agency created to police the financial sector following the 2008 financial crisis — by $150 million, or roughly 25 percent of its budget.

In addition, Republicans in the Senate passed a bank deregulation bill just last month.

Trump Calls Out OPEC, Says 'Oil Prices Are Artificially Very High' </s> Wells Fargo will pay $1 billion to settle federal charges into consumer abuses related to its auto lending and mortgage businesses, the U.S. government said Friday.

Wells Fargo violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act "in the way it administered a mandatory insurance program related to its auto loans," the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) said in a news release.

The fine is the biggest in the history of the CFPB, which was created in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, and the largest bank penalty administered under the Trump administration.

The agency also found Wells violated the CFPA in how it charged certain borrowers for mortgage interest rate-lock extensions.

"While we have more work to do, these orders affirm that we share the same priorities with our regulators and that we are committed to working with them," Wells CEO Tim Sloan said in a separate statement.

Sloan took the top position at Wells after the bank's scandals started blowing up in 2016.

The action came in coordination with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which said Wells Fargo had failed to maintain adequate risk management controls since at least 2011.

"The bank's failure to implement and maintain a satisfactory compliance risk management program has caused the bank to engage in reckless unsafe or unsound practices and violations of law," the OCC said in a consent decree issued as part of the settlement.
The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority fines several companies, including Wells Fargo, RBC Capital Markets, and LPL Financial, a combined $14.4 million for record-keeping problems that could have allowed company and customer documents to be altered.