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The
regulator said Wells Fargo Advisors failed to file at least 34
Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) in a timely manner between
April 2017 and October 2021.
"At Wells Fargo Advisors, we take regulatory responsibilities
seriously," bank spokeswoman Shea Leordeanu said in an emailed
statement. "This matter refers to legacy issues that impacted a
transaction monitoring system and the issues were resolved
promptly upon discovery."
The lapse arose because the broker failed to properly implement
and test a new version of its internal anti-money laundering
(AML) transaction monitoring and alert system adopted in January
2019, the SEC said. The system failed to reconcile the different
country codes used to monitor foreign wire transfers.
As a result, Wells Fargo Advisors did not timely file at least
25 SARs related to suspicious transactions in its customers’
brokerage accounts involving wire transfers to or from foreign
countries it determined to be a risk for laundering, terrorist
financing, or other illegal money movements.
"When SEC registrants like Wells Fargo Advisors fail to comply
with their AML obligations, they put the investing public at
risk," said Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s Division of
Enforcement, adding that the SEC was sending a message to the
rest of the industry that "AML obligations are sacrosanct."
(Reporting by Michelle Price; Additional reporting by Elizabeth
Dilts Marshall; Editing by Chizu Nomiyiama and Mark Porter)
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