RBC Capital Markets Ordered to Pay $242,000 in Restitution, $20,000 Fine for Overcharging Minnesota Investors

(KNSI) — RBC Capital Markets, LLC, accused of overcharging thousands of Minnesota customers on investment transactions, is being ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution and fines.

The Minnesota Department of Commerce formally censured RBC on May 21st after a multi-state investigation found the company charged unreasonably high commissions on equity transactions over a five-year period.

State law limits how much financial firms can charge customers in commissions. Regulators say RBC overcharged customers on 6,324 equity transactions between May 16th, 2020, and May 16th, 2025, totaling $242,561.93 in excess commissions. Investigators also found the company failed to properly oversee those transactions to make sure customers were charged fairly. Its system wasn’t programmed to flag transactions in which commissions exceeded the maximum of 5% of the principal amount.

The problem wasn’t limited to Minnesota. Nationally, RBC overcharged on approximately 89,900 equity transactions over a five-year period, totaling roughly $3.4 million.

In March 2023, RBC self-reported the issue to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and, according to the settlement, updated its commission schedule and adjusted its system to flag any commissions exceeding the 5% threshold. Under the terms, RBC does not admit or deny the findings, but must repay overcharged customers with 6% annual interest and pay a $20,000 fine to the state.

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