The bank admitted to unconscionable conduct in dealings with the Australian government, misreporting bond trading data by tens of billions of dollars, failing to properly manage customer hardship cases, providing misleading information on savings interest rates, and mishandling deceased estates affecting thousands of customers.
ASIC and ANZ will ask the Federal Court to impose penalties across four separate proceedings – these include $125 million for institutional and markets matters, including a record $80 million penalty for unconscionable conduct, and $115 million for three retail matters.
ASIC Chair Joe Longo said: “Time and time again ANZ betrayed the trust of Australians.
“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.
“Banks must have the trust of customers and government. This outcome shows an unacceptable disregard for that trust that is critical to the banking system,” he added.
Longo also highlighted the government bond trading case, saying, the bank was in a “trusted position and its conduct had the potential to reduce the amount of funding available to the government”.
“This funding is used to support critical services including Australia’s health and education systems, affecting all Australians. When public funds are put at risk, every Australian pays the price.”
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said the misconduct reflected deep cultural failings.
“The issues we have seen reflect serious inadequacies across multiple levels and multiple divisions of ANZ and a clear failure to manage non-financial risk,” Court said.
“As one of Australia’s biggest banks, customers trusted ANZ to do the right thing but, even on the basics like paying the correct interest rate, it fell short.
“If these penalties are imposed by the court, it will be a clear message to ANZ and all other banks that the cost of breaking the law is not an acceptable cost of doing business.”
The four matters filed against ANZ include:
- Unconscionable conduct on government bond deal: ANZ overstated secondary market bond turnover while managing a $14 billion bond issuance for the Australian government, misleading officials over nearly two years.
- Financial hardship mishandling: Between May 2022 and September 2024, ANZ failed to respond to 488 hardship notices, sometimes for over two years, despite personal circumstances including unemployment, illness, bereavement, and family violence. Remediation has included payments of $92,687 and credit report corrections.
- Bonus interest mispayments: Between July 2013 and March 2025, ANZ failed to pay correct interest rates on tens of thousands of accounts due to system and process failures, with remediation ongoing.
- Deceased estates: Between July 2019 and June 2023, ANZ failed to refund fees for thousands of deceased customers and was slow to respond to estate representatives. Remediation included over 18,900 accounts and $3.8 million in repayments.
Including the current penalties, ASIC has brought 11 civil penalty proceedings against ANZ since 2016, with proposed and ordered penalties totalling more than $310 million.
Court consideration will determine whether the penalties are appropriate and what additional orders may be made.
