ANZ Group Holdings Limited

The Federal Court ordered ANZ to pay A$40 million for failures involving customers who sought financial hardship assistance. According to ASIC, ANZ failed to respond to 488 customers who submitted hardship notices between May 2022 and September 2024. In some cases, customers waited more than two years for a response. Customers seeking assistance reported circumstances including unemployment, serious medical problems, bereavement and family violence. ASIC said that in some cases ANZ continued debt-recovery activity before responding to hardship notices, including issuing default notices and referring customers to debt collectors. ANZ admitted the misconduct. It completed remediation that included payments to affected customers and corrections to credit reports. Source: Australian Securities and Investments Commission https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2025-releases/25-314mr-federal-court-orders-250-million-combined-penalties-against-anz/

In December 2025, the Federal Court ordered ANZ to pay penalties arising from misconduct involving its management of a A$14 billion Australian Government bond transaction and inaccurate reporting of secondary bond-market trading data. ASIC said ANZ acted unconscionably during the April 2023 bond deal and exposed the Australian Government to significant financial risk. ANZ also admitted that it provided misleading trading-turnover information to the Australian Office of Financial Management for nearly two years, overstating activity by billions of dollars. The Court imposed A$135 million in combined penalties for the institutional and markets misconduct, including a record A$80 million penalty for unconscionable conduct. ASIC estimated the trading misconduct cost the Government up to A$26 million. ANZ admitted the misconduct and cooperated with ASIC before the proceedings were commenced. Source: Australian Securities and Investments Commission https://www.asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2025-releases/25-314mr-federal-court-orders-250-million-combined-penalties-against-anz/