The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has filed four civil penalty proceedings against Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) and will ask the Federal Court to impose total penalties of AUD 240 million after ANZ admitted the alleged misconduct. The cases span institutional and retail conduct including unconscionable dealing with the Australian Government in a AUD 14 billion bond transaction and inflated bond turnover reporting, plus failures in hardship handling, savings interest disclosures and payments, and deceased-estate fee refunds, impacting nearly 65,000 customers. The proposed penalties comprise AUD 125 million for the institutional and markets matters, including a proposed record AUD 80 million penalty for unconscionable conduct, and AUD 115 million across three retail matters. The institutional case covers trading around the pricing of a 19 April 2023 government bond issuance and misleading reporting to the Australian Office of Financial Management, alongside overstating secondary market bond turnover by tens of billions of AUD for nearly two years. The retail proceedings include failures to respond to 488 customer hardship notices between May 2022 and September 2024, leading to remediation payments totalling AUD 92,687 and corrections to credit reports; interest rate issues affecting savings accounts, including remediation of 194,487 accounts for missed bonus interest between July 2013 and January 2024 and a separate alleged misstatement of rates between August 2024 and March 2025 that affected 56,703 customers and left 26,917 customers underpaid around AUD 480,000; and deceased-estate process failures between July 2019 and June 2023, where ANZ has been unable to identify the total number of affected customers but has remediated over 18,900 accounts for AUD 3.8 million. Each proceeding will be considered separately by the Federal Court, which will determine whether the penalties are appropriate and make any other orders. ASIC noted that, including these matters, it has brought eleven civil penalty proceedings against ANZ since 2016 with proposed and ordered penalties totalling more than AUD 310 million.
Australian Securities & Investments Commission 2025-09-15
Australian Securities & Investments Commission seeks Federal Court penalties of AUD 240 million after ANZ admits widespread misconduct
ASIC has initiated four civil penalty proceedings against ANZ, seeking AUD 240 million in penalties after ANZ admitted to alleged misconduct. The cases involve unconscionable dealing in a AUD 14 billion bond transaction, inflated bond turnover reporting, and failures in handling customer hardships, affecting nearly 65,000 customers. The Federal Court will assess the proposed penalties, including a record AUD 80 million for unconscionable conduct.