The Federal Court has ordered the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) to publish notices on its website and newsroom acknowledging the bank’s “false or misleading conduct when it overcharged interest on business overdraft accounts”.
ASIC confirmed on Monday that CBA must publish both a written and audiovisual notice on its website and ensure that each notice appears immediately upon access to the landing page on the websites.
It’s reported that CBA breached the law on 12,119 occasions by charging higher-than-advised interest rates on business overdraft accounts.
“The requirement for CBA to notify its customers and the general public that it unlawfully overcharged interest is an important part of deterrence, along with the $7 million fine handed down by the Court,” ASIC commissioner Sean Hughes said.
“Not only does it ensure that CBA’s customers and the general public are aware of the misconduct, it sends a strong message that there is significant financial and reputational risk for failing to have the systems in place to prevent overcharging.”
As well as receiving the $7 million penalty, CBA has been ordered to provide a proposed version of the audiovisual notice to the court by 27 August.
Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.
Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.
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