Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin has announced that a multi-state effort to crack down on brokers who overcharge investors has resulted in a combined $4.4 million settlement with Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC and Merrill Lynch. A Massachusetts-led coalition of eight state securities regulators concluded that these firms had a practice of charging unreasonably high commissions fees to retail customers for small-dollar transactions.
As a result of the settlement, more than 2,000 Massachusetts investors will receive restitution. Across all eight participating states, investigators identified more than 250,000 transactions in which customers were charged excessive commission fees. The firms will pay a combined fine of more than $2.4 million to participating states.
In coordination with a North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) working group that included financial regulators in Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington, Galvin’s Securities Division led an investigation looking into Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch’s practice of nickel-and-diming customers. This crackdown follows similar multi-state investigations led by Galvin in 2023 and 2025, which resulted in $32 million in settlements across six firms.
"For years, my office has been going after broker-dealers who nickel-and-dime their retail customers," Galvin said today. "Because of these efforts, we are finally beginning to see these firms take notice and change their practices. We are always happy when we can return money to investors, but we would much rather stop them from being overcharged in the first place."
Secretary Galvin has extended his thanks and appreciation to the state securities regulators in the seven other states that participated in the investigation.
