Wells Fargo & Co. spent two years studying the iPhone before letting bankers use the device at work. Apple Inc.’s iPad, released in April, took just weeks to get cleared.

This time around, safeguards against security breaches are stronger from the start, according to Megan Minich, a senior vice president at the San Francisco-based bank. Her colleagues used two of the first shipment of 15 iPads to demonstrate financial products at an investors’ conference in May. More are on the way, Minich said.