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This
raises questions about the scope of the sales scandal that hit
the lender's retail banking business last year and cost Chief
Executive John Stumpf his job.
The probe also found that employees had pushed small firms
toward more expensive contracts as part of aggressive sales
tactics, the Journal reported.
Wells Fargo was not immediately available for comment.
The company had said on a conference call in January that it had
made progress on evaluating potentially unauthorized credit card
accounts, including any impact to customers' credit scores and
analysis of credit signatures to verify authorization.
"We want to identify anyone who was negatively impacted so we
can make things right," Chief Executive Tim Sloan said on the
call.
Merchants have battled for years with banks, in the courts and
in Congress, over how much they must pay for accepting card
payments.
Revelations of Wells Fargo's problems with small-business
customers come almost a month after it reached a $190 million
settlement over opening as many as 2 million accounts in retail
customers' names without their knowledge.
The bank has said it fired more than 5,000 employees for
improperly opening the accounts.
Wells Fargo is also battling lawsuits from former employees,
customers and shareholders related to the issue.
Shares of Wells Fargo, which is expected to report first-quarter
results on April 13, were up 0.3 percent in premarket trading.
(Reporting by Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Martina
D'Couto)
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