WealthManagement.com reported that the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) has announced a combined $4.4 million settlement with Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch over commissions charged on small trades. The settlement resolves claims that the firms charged unreasonable commissions to retail clients. NASAA's announcement is dated October 15, 2026. It is a regulator announcement, and we found no firm-issued release accompanying it.
According to NASAA, the settlement covers Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC, Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC and Merrill Lynch. It follows an investigation into the firms' practices on small-dollar transactions. NASAA said Massachusetts regulators led the multistate probe, which was joined by Alabama, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Texas and Washington. NASAA said the probe found unreasonable commissions on more than 256,000 equity transactions over five years. FA Magazine reported that the conduct window runs from September 30, 2020 to October 1, 2025.
FA Magazine reported that the Wells Fargo entities allegedly collected nearly $3.9 million in excessive commissions across about 228,243 transactions, while Merrill allegedly charged nearly $549,000. These are alleged commission amounts, not measures of assets or revenue. The core issue, as reported, was minimum commission schedules that made modest stock trades disproportionately expensive for customers.
WealthManagement.com, citing a Massachusetts consent order, reported that Wells Fargo charged a $55 minimum on certain equity trades through May 2023. On some small trades, it reported, that minimum could reach 15% of the principal. The order says the firm did not reasonably supervise transactions that carried minimum charges. These are the order's allegations as reported, and they have not been tested in the sources we reviewed.
Under the settlement terms, as NASAA described them, affected customers in participating states are to receive restitution plus interest. The firms will also pay administrative fines and costs, and they must attest that their current policies are designed to keep commissions equitable and sensible. The sources we reviewed do not give a timeline for restitution payments.
Wells Fargo Advisors is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, according to its LinkedIn company page. An SEC Form ADV filing dated June 23, 2026, lists about $671.4 billion in regulatory assets under management across 5,302 clients, as compiled by LP Backed. A U.S. News profile lists the same $671.4 billion figure. U.S. News also says Wells Fargo Advisors LLC is owned by Wachovia Securities Financial Holdings, a subsidiary of Wells Fargo & Co. The AUM figure measures assets, not prices or revenue.
Merrill Lynch was founded in 1914 and is headquartered at 250 Vesey Street in New York City, according to a comparison site's profile. An SEC filing states that Merrill Lynch was formed in 1914 and became publicly traded in 1971. Merrill's parent is Bank of America, which completed its purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. in January 2009. Today Merrill functions as the wealth unit of Bank of America.
The firms named in this settlement have faced prior regulatory matters. In a separate SEC case over cash sweep programs, Wells Fargo Clearing Services agreed to pay $28 million, Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network $7 million and Merrill Lynch $25 million, as WealthManagement.com reported. The firms neither admitted nor denied the findings. Merrill said that, ahead of the SEC probe, it had increased the rates paid under its bank deposit program and strengthened its oversight procedures. In 2009, NASAA said a settlement would have Wells Fargo Investments repay roughly $1.3 billion to customers holding frozen auction rate securities. A 2020 FINRA settlement with Wells Fargo Clearing Services concerned failure to supervise a former representative who excessively traded an elderly customer's accounts.
NASAA has also announced a separate multistate settlement with five unnamed firms, which found about $19 million in charges across 1.12 million small-dollar equity trades. The sources we reviewed do not establish whether that matter served as a precedent for this one.
NASAA President Elizabeth Bowling commended the state regulators' work, according to FA Magazine. The sources we reviewed do not describe how restitution will be calculated or when payments to customers will begin.