Wells Fargo finds 1.4 million more fake accounts than originally discovered (WFC)

REUTERS/Noah Berger

Wells Fargo & Co will refund more customers for charges they should not have incurred after expanding its review of improper sales practices, the third-largest U.S. bank said on Thursday.

Wells will return $2.8 million to 1.4 million additional customers who appear to have had consumer and small business accounts opened without permission. It will return $910,000 to about 528,000 people who may have been enrolled in online billpay services without permission, a newly disclosed problem.

The findings come nearly a year after Wells Fargo reached a $190 million settlement with regulators over phony accounts. That led to the departure of a chief executive, a divisive shareholder meeting and disclosures of additional sales practice problems ranging from unwanted auto insurance to improper mortgage fees.

The problems Wells reported on Thursday came after a third party it hired examined accounts stemming back to 2009, a broader timeframe than another review conducted last year. The bank previously disclosed the expanded review in a quarterly securities filing, but not its results.

The bank is now reviewing accounts stemming back to 2002, Chief Executive Tim Sloan said on a conference call with reporters.

(Reporting by Dan Freed in New York; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Bernadette Baum)

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