ANZ Banking Group Ltd (ANZ)
(ANZ1) 9 December 2021
ASIC sues ANZ for misleading customers and failing to provide promised benefits.
ASIC commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against ANZ for failing to provide certain benefits it had agreed to give customers with offset transaction accounts or a ‘Breakfree’ package.
ASIC claims that between the mid-1990s and September 2021, ANZ failed to provide certain benefits, which included fee waivers and interest rate discounts, to approximately 580,447 customer accounts, which has resulted in ANZ having to remediate nearly $200 million to impacted customers.
ANZ admits that it made false or misleading representations to its customers.
This conduct was the subject of the Financial Services Royal Commission (Final Report 1 February 2019).
Penalties:
ANZ remediated nearly $200 million to impacted customers.
ASIC is further seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties and other orders against ANZ.
ASIC and ANZ will submit to the Court that a penalty of $25 million is appropriate.
Attachments:
(ANZ1) 20211208 ASIC v ANZ (Agreed Statement of Facts)
(ANZ1) 20211208 ASIC v ANZ (Originating Process)
(ANZ1) 20211209 [ASIC Media Release – ANZ (False & Misleading Representations $200m)]