One of Australia’s biggest banks has agreed to pay a record $240 million Australian dollars (£118 million) in penalties for corporate misconduct.
The misconduct affected nearly 65,000 customers, as well as the federal government.
ANZ, also known as Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said they will ask a federal court to endorse the penalties for four separate prosecutions.
The fines will set a new record amount imposed on a single entity for corporate misconduct by the ASIC, which is the national company and financial services regulator.
The previous record was AU$113 million (£55 million) imposed on the bank Westpac for widespread compliance failures in 2022.
“The penalties we’ll be asking the court to impose including a record penalty ASIC has sought for unconscionable conduct reflects the seriousness and number of breaches of law, the vulnerable position that ANZ put its customers in and the repeated failure to rectify crucial issues,” ASIC chairman Joe Longo said.
ANZ admitted failing to refund charges to thousands of dead customers and failing to respond to hundreds of customer hardship notices, in some case for over two years, the regulator said.
The bank made false and misleading statements about savings interest rates and failed to pay the promised interest rate to tens of thousands of customers, it said.
ANZ also acted unconscionably with the Australian government while managing AU$14 billion (£6.9 billion) in bonds over two years, ASIC said.
ANZ chief executive Nuno Matos, who joined the bank in May, said he expected to see “measurable improvements” resulting in better care for customers.
“The failings outlined are simply not good enough and they reinforce the case for change,” Mr Matos said.
