CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Federal Court has ordered Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ.AX) to pay A$250 million in penalties for widespread misconduct and systemic risk failures that impacted the Australian Government, taxpayers, and more than 65,000 retail bank customers. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) confirmed this is the largest combined penalty it has ever secured against a single entity.
Justice Jonathan Beach increased the penalty for ANZ's inaccurate reporting of secondary bond market turnover data by A$10 million, bringing the total penalty for that misconduct to A$50 million. The ruling stems from four separate court proceedings covering misconduct across ANZ's Institutional and Retail divisions, first announced in September 2025.
The Court ordered ANZ to pay A$135 million in combined penalties for institutional and markets misconduct, including mismanagement of a A$14 billion government bond deal and inaccurate reporting of secondary bond market turnover data. This includes a record A$80 million penalty for unconscionable conduct.
The Court also ordered ANZ to pay A$40 million for failing to respond to hundreds of customer hardship notices, some delayed for more than two years, and for not having proper hardship processes in place.
In addition, the Court ordered ANZ to pay A$40 million for making false and misleading statements about savings interest rates and failing to pay the promised interest rate to tens of thousands of customers; A$35 million for failing to refund fees charged to thousands of deceased customers and not responding to loved ones handling deceased estates within the required timeframe.
In increasing the penalty for misreporting conduct, Justice Beach described ANZ's actions as 'inexcusable' with 'no redeeming feature whatsoever,' stressing that a substantial penalty was necessary to achieve both specific and general deterrence.
On the retail matters, His Honour reflected on the 'serious and unacceptable nature of the contraventions,' emphasizing that penalties should not be regarded as a mere cost of doing business. The A$35 million penalty relating to deceased estates was described as appropriate to deter both repetition by ANZ and similar misconduct by other licensees.
According to ASIC, the Justice Beach noted that ANZ had engaged constructively with ASIC before proceedings commenced, making early admissions and acknowledging liability. ANZ admitted to the misconduct in September 2025 and, together with ASIC, initially proposed penalties of A$240 million.
In a separate press release, ANZ confirmed it had agreed to civil penalties of A$240 million and to pay ASIC's costs. However, the Court imposed an additional A$10 million penalty for inaccurate monthly secondary bond turnover data submitted to the Australian Office of Financial Management, raising the total to A$250 million.
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