The Federal Court has levied an additional $10 million fine against ANZ, adding to a historic $240 million penalty for engaging in prolonged “unconscionable conduct.”
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reported that the bank’s extensive misconduct and systemic failings impacted the Australian government, taxpayers, and over 65,000 retail banking customers.
According to the corporate regulator, ANZ mishandled a $14 billion bond deal for the federal government, neglected to refund fees charged to thousands of deceased customers, and overlooked hundreds of customer hardship notices.
Furthermore, the watchdog discovered that the bank made false and misleading statements concerning savings interest rates.
In a recent ruling, the Federal Court decided the penalty should be even steeper, bringing the total fine against the major bank to $250 million.
ASIC Chair Joe Longo emphasized the bank’s pivotal role in Australia’s banking infrastructure, stating that ANZ “must do better” in fulfilling its responsibilities.
“The size of the penalties ordered today underscores the seriousness of ANZ’s misconduct and its far-reaching consequences for the government, taxpayers and tens of thousands of customers,” Longo said.
“ANZ must overhaul its non-financial risk management and put the interests of clients, customers and the public first.
“In the bond trading and misreporting matter, ANZ exposed the Australian government to a significant risk of harm, denied the government an opportunity to protect itself and the public interest, and misled the government for nearly two years by overstating bond trading volumes by billions of dollars.
“ASIC estimates ANZ’s trading misconduct cost up to $26 million, reducing funds that could have supported essential public services.”
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said tens of thousands of customers suffered from systemic failures.
“ANZ will also pay for misconduct that made an already difficult time far harder for hundreds of its customers who were experiencing hardship or dealing with the loss of a loved one,” Court said.
“This outcome sends a clear message to ANZ that it needs to do better by its customers and to all banks that the cost of breaking the law is not an acceptable cost of doing business.”
In a statement, ANZ said it is “focused on significantly improving its management of non-financial risks across the bank, with a dedicated program of work underway as part of its root cause remediation plan”.
“In addition, ANZ has established an ASIC matters resolution program within Australia retail to meet commitments to ASIC to deliver improvements across a number of areas in its retail division.”
