The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has commenced civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), alleging approximately 42,000 CommBiz customers, many of them small businesses, were overcharged about AUD 8.5 million between November 2020 and May 31, 2025. The case concerns allegedly misleading disclosures of Direct Debit and Direct Credit fees and governance failures that allowed them to remain uncorrected.
Customers were told they would pay a fee for payments to or from third-party accounts, but allegedly also incurred an undisclosed fee for the corresponding movement of funds through their own CBA accounts. The allegedly misleading terms dated to CommBiz’s launch in 2006, with overcharging continuing for around 19 years. According to the allegations, CBA received customer complaints from at least 2015, while a 2016 internal audit identified Direct Debit fee overcharging and required corrective action. ASIC also alleges CBA failed to act efficiently, honestly and fairly.
CBA temporarily stopped charging the relevant fees in June 2025, amended its CommBiz terms in August 2025 and has waived the additional fees since February 2026. A completed remediation program covering the period from December 1, 2006, has paid more than AUD 26.4 million to approximately 93,000 past and current CommBiz customers, including around 40,000 small businesses. ASIC is seeking declarations, financial penalties and adverse publicity orders, among other relief. No case management hearing has yet been listed.