The major bank has been ordered to pay $250 million in penalties – the largest combined ASIC penalty ever secured against a single company – after admitting widespread misconduct and systemic risk failures.
The Federal Court has released court orders today (19 December), confirming that Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) will have to pay $250 million in penalties after the major bank engaged in unconscionable conduct, misreported bond trading data, mishandled customer hardship cases, provided misleading information on savings interest rates, and failed to properly manage deceased estates.
In September of this year, it was first revealed that ANZ had agreed to pay the combined penalties of just over $240 million.
However, it has now been confirmed that the final penalty is around $250 million, after the judge increased the penalty for ANZ’s inaccurate reporting of secondary bond market turnover data by $10 million, bringing the penalty in relation to that misconduct to $50 million.
The total $250 million figure is the largest combined penalties amount ASIC has ever secured against a single entity.
Institutional failings
The largest component of the penalty relates to ANZ’s handling of a $14 billion Australian government bond issuance. The court found the bank overstated secondary market bond turnover by tens of billions of dollars over nearly two years, misleading the Australian Office of Financial Management (AOFM). Justice Jonathan Beach described the conduct as “particularly serious” and “inexcusable,” increasing the penalty for misreporting by $10 million to $50 million in total.
Justice Beach said: “ANZ did not act conscionably, did not act transparently, nor did it trade in the way in which it said it would… its post-completion conduct reveals a lack of candour and frankness about its trading.”
The court imposed $135 million in combined penalties for institutional and markets misconduct, including a record $80 million for unconscionable conduct.
Retail customer failings
ANZ also faces significant penalties for misconduct affecting its retail customers:
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Hardship mishandling: Between May 2022 and September 2024, ANZ failed to respond to 488 hardship notices in some cases for more than two years, despite personal circumstances including unemployment, illness, bereavement, and family violence. The court imposed a $40 million penalty. Remediation has included payments of $92,687 and credit report corrections.
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Bonus interest mispayments: From July 2013 to March 2025, tens of thousands of customers were not paid the correct interest on their accounts due to process failures. ANZ will pay $40 million for these breaches, with remediation ongoing.
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Deceased estates: Between July 2019 and June 2023, the bank failed to refund fees for thousands of deceased customers, resulting in a $35 million penalty. Over 18,900 accounts have been remediated, with $3.8 million returned.
Justice Beach noted that penalties “are not to be regarded as a cost of doing business” and must serve both as specific and general deterrence.
ASIC chair Joe Longo said the penalties “underscore the seriousness of ANZ’s misconduct and its far-reaching consequences for the Government, taxpayers and tens of thousands of customers.” He noted the bond trading and misreporting misconduct exposed the government to “significant risk of harm” and may have cost up to $26 million that could have supported essential public services.
Deputy chair Sarah Court said systemic failures “extended to fundamental banking basics like paying the correct interest rate on savings accounts” and worsened hardship for vulnerable customers. She added: “This outcome sends a clear message to ANZ that it needs to do better by its customers, and to all banks that the cost of breaking the law is not an acceptable cost of doing business.”
The penalties follow ASIC’s previous announcement in September that ANZ faced $240 million in fines across four separate proceedings spanning its institutional and retail divisions. The regulator highlighted the bank’s “history of non-compliance in markets matters, for misconduct in foreign exchange, continuous disclosure, and the bank bill swap rate matter.”
In a statement following the court orders, ANZ said: “ANZ is focused on significantly improving its management of non-financial risks across the bank, with a dedicated program of work underway as part of its Root Cause Remediation Plan.
“In addition, ANZ has established an ASIC Matters Resolution Program within Australia Retail to meet commitments to ASIC to deliver improvements across a number of areas in its Retail division.
“Both programs of work will be reviewed by Promontory, an independent expert appointed to review and report on progress and delivery of this work.”
ANZ said the financial impact of the revised civil penalties and ASIC’s costs is almost wholly covered by existing provisions, including a $240 million penalty provision.
Since 2016, ASIC has brought 11 civil penalty proceedings against ANZ, with proposed and ordered penalties now totalling more than $310 million.
[Related: ANZ agrees to $240m fine for misconduct]
