Barclays To Shell Out Nearly $100 Million To Settle SEC Charges

Josh O'Neill

11 May 2017

has said.

The regulator found that two of Barclays' advisory programs billed more than 2,000 clients for due dilligence and monitoring of certain third-party investment managers and investment strategies when, in fact, these services were not executed properly and underperformed as a result.

The bank also collected excess mutual fund sales charges or fees from 63 brokerage clients by recommending more expensive share classes when cheaper ones were available, the SEC said.

Another 22,138 accounts paid excess fees to Barclays due to miscalculations and billing errors by the firm, the SEC added.

Barclays neither admitted nor denied the charges, but agreed to create a Fair Fund to refund advisory fees to affected clients. This will be comprised of $49,785,417 in disgorgement; $13,752,242 in interest; and a $30 million penalty.

The bank will directly refund an additional $3.5 million to advisory clients who invested in the investment managers and strategies that underperformed.

“Barclays failed to ensure that clients were receiving the services they were paying for,” said C Dabney O’Riordan, co-chief of the SEC enforcement division’s asset management unit. “Each set of clients who were harmed are being refunded through the settlement.”