© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A man talks on his phone in front of an ANZ Banking corporation tower in central Sydney, Australia February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Daniel Munoz/File Photo
(Reuters) – Australia’s market regulator on Monday said it had commenced civil penalty proceedings against Australia and New Zealand Banking Group for allegedly misleading its customers with respect to their credit card accounts.
About 165,750 ANZ clients were charged cash advance fees and interest for withdrawing or transferring money from their credit card accounts between May 2016 and November 2018, based on an incorrect account balance, the regulator said in a statement.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said that in some cases, single customers were charged thousands of dollars in fees.
“This alleged misconduct is the result of system errors within ANZ and a lack of effort to comprehensively fix these issues,” said ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court.
Although the lender has remediated over A$10 million ($7.16 million) to customers who were affected up until 17 November 2018, ASIC said it is seeking orders from the court to remediate customers who have been wrongly charged since 2018.
ANZ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
($1 = 1.3968 Australian dollars)
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