Wells Fargo close to settlements with DOJ, SEC over sales scandal - NYT

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co is nearing a settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department (DOJ) over previously disclosed probes into its sales practices, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The settlements could be announced as soon as Friday, the report said, citing people who spoke on the condition of anonymity, wrapping up one of the last major probes looming over the bank.

Wells Fargo declined to comment on the report.

The San Francisco-based lender had set aside $3.9 billion for the quarter ended June 30 last year to deal with "a variety of matters, including retail sales practices matters."

Last month, U.S. regulator said it had banned former Chief Executive John Stumpf from the banking industry and charged him and seven other former executives combined more than $58 million in civil penalties for their roles in the bank's multi-year sales practices scandal.

The fourth largest U.S. lender has paid out more than $4 billion in fines and penalties since the 2016 revelation that the bank's sales practices encouraged employees to open potentially millions of unauthorized bank accounts to hit lofty sales targets.

(Reporting by Mekhla Raina in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)