National Australia Bank has been hit with a $18.5 million fine after admitting to allegations by ASIC that it failed to adequately disclose its adviser fees for five years.
National Australia Bank has admitted in court it broke the law by charging fees it was not entitled to collect, but the bank and the corporate regulator are $25 million apart on what is an appropriate penalty.
National Australia Bank has urged a court to impose a $15 million penalty for its five-year failure to adequately disclose its adviser fees, and has argued ASIC’s push for a steeper penalty goes too far.
A judge has ordered that Joseph ‘Diamond Joe’ Gutnik’s Merlin Diamonds be wound up after the mining company’s provisional liquidators uncovered “serious contraventions” and a “serious failure of governance”.
National Australia Bank’s “grossly deficient” systems and failure to swiftly bring its processes into compliance prompted ASIC to launch its second fees-for-no-service case against the bank, the Federal Court has heard.
A judge has appointed provisional liquidators to ‘Diamond Joe’ Gutnick’s mining company Merlin Diamonds, after finding evidence of “serious mismanagement” and citing an urgent need to investigate the company’s books.