The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is resisting a novel proposal by ASIC to use its CommBank app to notify 6.3 million customers of a $7 million fine against it for overcharging interest, saying the move would pose a “significant risk” to the public.
A judge has slugged the Commonwealth Bank of Australia with a $7 million fine in proceedings brought by ASIC for excessive interest charged to thousands of overdraft customers, but noted the penalty amounted to profits from just six hours of operation for the Big Four bank.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has taken the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to court for slapping nearly 1 million customers with unauthorised monthly access fees totaling $55 million over a nine-year period.
Two Commonwealth Bank of Australia subsidiaries have denied that they owed fiduciary duties to group members in a class action over allegedly excessive insurance premiums pushed onto customers because of commissions and other benefits to financial advisors.
A judge has questioned why ASIC is still pursuing its case CBA unit Colonial First State over statements made to 12,000 fund managers during the transition to MySuper accounts, after the bank admitted it misled members in 61 of the 80 phone calls at the heart of the case.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has told a judge there’s no chance it will admit to ASIC’s allegations that it accepted conflicted remuneration through the sale of its Essential Super product, likening the matter to ASIC’s failed ‘Wagyu and shiraz’ case against Westpac.
ASIC has launched court action against two Commonwealth Bank of Australia subsidiaries that have admitted multiple “systemic compliance failures”, including the overcharging of more than $4.3 million in brokerage fees.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia could be on the hook for a large penalty after the court found the bank engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct and violated its financial services obligations on more than 12,000 occasions by overcharging customers more than $2.2 million in interest.
Proceedings launched by ASIC in December accusing the Commonwealth Bank of Australia of saddling consumers with $2.9 million in inflated interest rates on their business overdraft accounts on more than 12,000 occasions will move swiftly to a penalties hearing.
Bondholders of Axsesstoday are seeking to expand their claims in a class action against the collapsed asset finance lender and its accountant PricewaterhouseCoopers, alleging PwC kept investors in the dark about a spike in the company’s arrears ratio prior to issuing a $50 million bond prospectus.