ANZ Ordered to Pay $250mn Penalty for Widespread Misconduct

Last month, Australia’s Federal Court ordered ANZ to pay A$250 million in penalties, the largest ever secured by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) against a single entity, for widespread misconduct and systemic risk failures.

“ANZ is a critical part of Australia’s banking system and, frankly, they must do better,” said ASIC Chair Joe Longo. “The size of the penalties ordered today underscores the seriousness of ANZ’s misconduct and its far-reaching consequences for the Government, taxpayers and tens of thousands of customers. ANZ must overhaul its non-financial risk management and put the interests of clients, customers and the public first.”

The judgment concludes four separate court proceedings. The largest of the penalties stems from misconduct relating to the management of a government bond deal worth A$14 billion and inaccurate reporting of bond trading volume data to the Australian government. The rest relate to retail misconduct affecting at least 65,000 customers, in which ANZ failed to respond to hundreds of customer hardship notices, made false or misleading statements about savings interest rates, and failed to refund fees charged to thousands of dead customers.

ANZ admitted to the misconduct in September 2025 and, alongside ASIC, asked the Court to impose penalties of A$240 million. However, the Federal Court increased the total to A$250 million in its final judgment.