Barclays will pay $97 million to settle SEC claims including allegations that the firm falsely charged clients for services that weren’t being performed.
The London-based bank overbilled customers by nearly $50 million through violations including imposing fees for due diligence that wasn’t being performed and collecting excess mutual fund fees by steering clients into more expensive share classes, the SEC said in a statement Wednesday.
The second-largest asset custodian tilts its policies toward larger firms as commission-free trading continues to eat into its business safeguarding client assets.
Advisory practice sellers frequently wish they had taken more time for important strategic tasks before the deal, David Grau of Succession Resource Group says. He provided a list explaining why the timeline will take longer than many sellers may think.
Mike DePrisco is president and CEO of the
Barclays agreed to settle the claims without admitting or denying the agency’s findings, and agreed to set a fair fund to return money to affected clients.
“Barclays failed to ensure that clients were receiving the services they were paying for,” said C. Dabney O’Riordan, co-head of the SEC’s enforcement division’s enforcement unit. “Each set of clients who were harmed are being refunded through the settlement.”
The bank will pay a $30 million penalty and more than $60 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest.
Andrew Smith, a Barclays spokesman, declined to comment.
