ANZ to Pay Historic Fine Over Bond Errors, Retail Violations
Australia’s corporate regulator has slapped a historic fine on ANZ over multiple issues, including incorrectly reported bond data and various violations against retail customers.
ANZ has agreed to pay A$240 million ($160 million) over multiple issues involving misconduct across its institutional and retail divisions, according to a statement by the bank.
In a separate statement, ASIC outlined the violations, which included the bank acting «unconscionably» in its dealings with the Australian government whilst managing an A$14 billion bond deal and overstating bond trading data by «tens of billions of dollars» over almost two years.
In its retail business, the bank also failed to respond to hundreds of customer hardship notices; made false and misleading statements about its savings interest rates and failed to pay the promised interest rate to tens of thousands of customers; and failed to refund fees charged to thousands of dead customers while not responding to those trying to deal with deceased estates within the required timeframe.
Bank Response
In response, ANZ has completed more than 50 accountability reviews, resulting in reduced remuneration for some current and former executives.
A resolution program has been formed to improve across several areas with a promontory appointed as an independent expert to review and report on adequacy and assess whether the bank has delivered its commitments. A remediation plan focused on root causes will also be submitted to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) with plans to spend around A$150 million.
«Time and time again ANZ betrayed the trust of Australians,» said ASIC chair Joe Longo. «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.»
