ANZ Bank to pay $10 million penalty for wrongly charging customers $3m in fees

ANZ will pay a $10 million penalty for wrongly charging 69,000 customers more than $3 million in fees.

The Federal Court found the bank had wrongly charged non-payment and transaction fees for periodic payments between 2003 and 2015.

It was not allowed to charge these fees for payments made between accounts held in the same customer name.

The court found ANZ’s lawyers in 2011 advised it may not have been allowed to charge the fees, but the bank continued to do so until September 2015.

The court also found ANZ engaged in unconscionable conduct by not compensating affected customers until later.

The bank has paid compensation of $2.5 million to customers.

The Australian Investments and Securities Commission, which filed the legal action, said the penalty sent a strong deterrent message.

The bank will also pay ASIC’s legal fees of $1 million.

Some of the fees were also part of a class action settled in 2018. ANZ paid about $760,000.