CBA Penalised $7 Million After Charging Business Customers Higher Interest Than Promised
Company: Commonwealth Bank of Australia
Summary
In April 2021, the Federal Court ordered Commonwealth Bank of Australia to pay a A$7 million penalty after findings that it made false or misleading representations and engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct involving business overdraft interest rates. ASIC said that between December 2014 and March 2018, CBA told customers that certain overdraft facilities would generally be charged interest at around 16 percent. Because of a systems error, more than 1,500 customers were instead charged substantially higher rates, in many cases approximately 34 percent. The misconduct resulted in 12,119 instances of false or misleading representations. CBA admitted the conduct. Source: Australian Securities and Investments Commission https://asic.gov.au/about-asic/news-centre/find-a-media-release/2021-releases/21-065mr-cba-to-pay-7-million-court-penalty-for-overcharged-interest-royal-commission-case-study/