Finra dings Morgan Stanley $802,000 for overcharging clients

Morgan Stanley was penalized for failing to catch excess sales charges and fees from mutual fund transactions between 2015 to 2021.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. on Thursday penalized Morgan Stanley $802,000 for failing to catch excess sales charges and fees from mutual fund transactions between 2015 to 2021.

Morgan Stanley agreed to pay the restitution to more than 2,000 client accounts, or roughly $401 per account.

According to Finra, during that time, “Morgan Stanley’s supervisory system did not provide certain customers with mutual fund sales charge waivers and fee rebates to which they were entitled through rights of reinstatement offered by mutual fund companies.”

Morgan Stanley agreed to the settlement without accepting or denying Finra’s findings. There was no fine in the matter.

In the settlement, Finra credited Morgan Stanley for its cooperation.

“Morgan Stanley is pleased to resolve this matter,” the company said in an email. “The firm has improved its systems and agreed to compensate impacted clients.”

Morgan Stanley in 2022 saw another strong year of nabbing client assets. In October the company reported it had brought in $65 billion worth of net new assets to its wealth management business during the third quarter, representing a 22% increase over the prior quarter and pushing total net new assets this year to $260 billion.