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The financial watchdog has announced that the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has admitted to misconduct over many years, including incorrectly reporting bond trading data to the federal government and misconduct across its products and services, impacting 65,000 customers.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) outlined ANZ’s wrongdoings as:
- Incorrectly reporting its bond trading data to the federal government and overstating the volumes by tens of billions of dollars
- Failing to respond to hundreds of customer hardship notices
- Making false and misleading statements about its savings interest rates
- Failing to refund fees charged to thousands of dead customers.
The bank was sanctioned for charging fees to the estates of dead clients by the Banking Code Compliance Committee in July last year.
ASIC said it will ask the Federal Court, alongside ANZ, for $240 million in penalties, including a record $80 million penalty for unconscionable conduct.
ASIC chair Joe Longo said the proposed penalties against ANZ are the largest announced by the regulator against one entity and “reflect the seriousness and number of breaches of law” as well as the “vulnerable position” the bank put its customers in.
“Time and time again ANZ betrayed the trust of Australians,” Longo said.
“Banks need to earn the trust of both customers and the government. This result indicates a concerning lack of respect for the essential trust upon which the banking system relies.”
ANZ chairman Paul O’Sullivan apologised for the bank’s misconduct and said it had “made mistakes that have had a significant impact on our customers”.
“While ASIC has not alleged that ANZ engaged in market manipulation, it’s clear we have not met the standards expected of us,” he said.
The bank also confirmed that it will submit a remediation plan required by ASIC to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority by the end of the month and said it expects to spend approximately $150 million on implementing the plan.
