ANZ facing legal action for charging fees to deceased customers
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is currently mounting a legal case against ANZ for allegedly charging account fees to deceased customers, and failing to fix system errors in a timely manner.
This is according to The Australian, who cite sources claiming ASIC is “actively weighing launching enforcement action against ANZ in the new year” based on a range of complaints, involving some 20,000 customers.
The commission will allege ANZ failed to stop charges to a number of accounts held in the name of deceased customers, to refund these fees, or to respond to deceased estates in a timely manner.
An ANZ spokesman told the publication: “Like all financial services organisations, we are in constant dialogue with regulators about a variety of matters and any questions on specifics should be directed to ASIC.”
ANZ was sanctioned by the Banking Code Compliance Committee in July over this issue, with ANZ’s customer service operations general manager, Dan O’Neill promising at the time the bank was “investing millions of dollars to make sure we have the right staff, the right training, and the right processes in place.”
The bank own annual report, issued in early November, prepared investors for the likelihood of the ASIC court action, warning ,“the outcomes and total costs associated with these possible regulatory, customer and other exposures remain uncertain.”
The bank will hold its annual general meeting in Melbourne on Thursday, where this matter will no doubt be raised.
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