SEC: Barclays to pay $97 million for overcharging clients

Barclays will pay $97 million to settle charges that it overbilled some of its advisory and brokerage clients.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says affected clients will get a refund.

In its complaint, the SEC says more than 2,000 accounts were charged about $48 million in fees between 2010 and 2014 for a service that Barclays did not provide and more than 22,000 accounts were charged about $2 million in excess fees between 2011 and 2015. The complaint also says that Barclays steered some clients with brokerage accounts toward expensive mutual funds when cheaper funds were available.

In settling, the SEC says Barclays did not admit or deny its findings.

London-based Barclays PLC declined to comment.