Regulators

CBA should pay a penalty of $12.8 million -- close to the maximum penalty the court can impose on the bank -- for underpaying its staff to the tune of $16.4 million, a judge has heard.

A battle with the competition regulator over the proposed ANZ, Suncorp tie-up has begun, with the first clash involving a group of rival lenders that want their submissions to the ACCC kept under lock and key.

The ACCC has delayed its decision on whether to greenlight Coles' plans to acquire milk processing plants from Saputo, after expressing competition concerns about the $105 million deal.

The corporate regulator has taken the country's largest superannuation fund, AustralianSuper, to court for allegedly causing $69 million in losses to customers by failing to merge multiple superannuation accounts.

Direct bank Members Equity has pleaded guilty to criminal charges over misleading representations to customers, but a judge has questioned the bank’s submissions in favour of a low penalty, noting it was only “happenstance” that a systems glitch didn’t lead to worse outcomes for customers.

The corporate regulator has filed a suit against fintech giant PayPal over a term in its contracts with small businesses that sets a deadline for complaints about excess fees.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has taken eHarmony Inc to court, alleging the dating site misled users about its advertised 'free dating' membership and that its automatic renewal was a “subscription trap”. 

Telco Swift Networks has been hit with a $1.2 million penalty for bid rigging and price fixing in the tender process for supplying IT and communications equipment for three Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals mining projects in WA's Pilbara region.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has won its case against Finnish microloan company Ferratum alleging it overcharged vulnerable, low-income consumers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As it readies its civil penalty suit against tech company Nuix for trial, ASIC has flagged a possible dispute about the extent of penalty privilege pleaded by a handful of former and current directors named in the case.