Advisory clients’ uninvested dollars were automatically swept into bank accounts that paid paltry interest, but were profitable for the companies, the SEC said.

Investment adviser units of Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill shortchanged customers by funneling uninvested cash into sweep accounts that benefited the banks but not their clients,

Merrill Lynch and two Wells Fargo advisory firms have agreed to pay a combined $60 million in civil penalties to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges over compliance failures, the regulator said on Friday.

Regulators took the wirehouses to task for not having policies directing advisors to consider clients' best interests.