Australia and New Zealand Banking Group has admitted to unconscionable conduct in services provided to the Commonwealth and to widespread misconduct affecting almost 65,000 customers, and will join the corporate regulator in asking the Federal Court to impose $240 million in penalties across four cases spanning its Institutional and Retail divisions.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the misconduct occurred over many years and reflected significant failures to manage non‑financial risk across the bank.
The cases centre on ANZ’s conduct while helping the Australian Office of Financial Management deliver a $14 billion sovereign bond issue, misreporting of secondary market bond turnover to the Government, failures to properly handle customer hardship notices, incorrect and misleading savings interest information and payments, and failures in dealing with deceased estates.
For the institutional and markets matters, ANZ has agreed to a combined $125 million penalty, including a record $80 million for unconscionable conduct. A further $115 million is proposed for three retail matters. It will be for the Court to determine whether the penalties are appropriate and to make any other orders.
ASIC alleges that during an April 2023 bond sale, ANZ’s trading strategy placed undue downward pressure on the bond price, failed to disclose significant remaining volumes before pricing and denied the Government an opportunity to protect itself and the public interest. The regulator also alleges ANZ overstated its bond trading turnover for nearly two years, despite internal concerns about the accuracy of the data. ANZ has admitted acting unconscionably and misleading the Government and to failing to meet obligations as an Australian financial services licensee.
On customer hardship, ASIC says ANZ failed to respond to 488 customers who lodged hardship notices between May 2022 and September 2024, in some cases for more than two years, and in some instances pursued collections without first responding to the notices. ANZ has completed a remediation program totalling $92,687 and corrected credit reports.
In relation to savings accounts, process failings meant promised introductory bonus interest was not always applied between July 2013 and January 2024; ANZ remediated 194,487 accounts and addressed secondary impacts. Separately, between August 2024 and March 2025, ANZ promoted base and bonus rates that ASIC alleges were inaccurate, affecting 56,703 customers and leaving 26,917 underpaid about $480,000. ANZ intends to remediate those customers.
Between July 2019 and June 2023, ANZ failed to refund fees charged to thousands of deceased customers and did not respond to representatives within required timeframes. The bank has been unable to identify the full number of affected customers. In July 2024, the Banking Code Compliance Committee sanctioned ANZ for breaches of the Banking Code of Practice. The bank remediated $3.8 million across more than 18,900 accounts and contacted over 9,000 people to apologise for delays.
ASIC Chair Joe Longo said, ‘Time and time again ANZ betrayed the trust of Australians.’ He added, ‘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 also said, ‘When public funds are put at risk, every Australian pays the price.’
ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, ‘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.’ She added, ‘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.’
Including the latest actions, ASIC has now brought eleven civil penalty proceedings against ANZ since 2016, with proposed and ordered penalties totalling more than $310 million. Each of the four new matters will be separately considered by the Federal Court. ANZ has admitted the allegations in each proceeding.
