ANZ agrees to pay $240 million penalty over ‘widespread misconduct’

ANZ Bank has agreed to pay a $240 million penalty to settle a string of legal cases from the corporate watchdog, admitting to unconscionable conduct relating to a bond trading scandal, incorrect reporting of trading data and failures in how it dealt with borrowers in hardship.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Monday said it and the bank would ask the Federal Court to impose the $240 million fine over cases alleging “many years” of misconduct in ANZ’s institutional bank and its retail division.

The ASIC and ANZ will ask the Federal Court to impose the $240 million fine over cases alleging “many years” of misconduct.Credit: Kate Geraghty

A combined $125 million in penalties relates to ANZ’s its role as manager in the issuance of a 10-year government bond - where ASIC accused the lender of acting “unconscionably” because it incorrectly reported its bond trading data to the federal government.

There is also a $40 million fine for the bank’s failed to pay bonus interest on certain online saver accounts and displaying inaccurate fees, and $40 million for breaching its obligations in how it handled customer hardship.

The bank has agreed to pay a further $35 million in fines due to breaches in how it handled deceased estates.

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ASIC chairman Joe Longo said: “The total penalties across these matters are the largest announced by ASIC against one entity and reflect the seriousness and number of breaches of law, the vulnerable position that ANZ put its customers in and the repeated failures to rectify crucial issues.”

ANZ chairman Paul O’Sullivan apologised on behalf of the bank, and admitted the bank had not taken sufficient action to hold executives accountable for the failures.

“While we have worked hard to get regulatory certainty on these matters, the reality is we made mistakes that have had a significant impact on customers.”

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