ANZ Bank has agreed to pay a record fine of A$240 million after admitting to various forms of misconduct that occurred “over many years”.

Announced on Monday, the fine marks the culmination of a major investigation by Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), into multiple allegations of misconduct across the bank’s retail and institutional divisions.

This penalty still requires approval from the Federal Court. But if it seems an eye-watering sum, that’s because it is the largest fine ASIC has ever sought against a single company.

So, what was this scandal all about? And what could this outcome mean – both for corporate regulation and customers?

According to ASIC, the record penalty being sought relates to admissions of misconduct across four key matters by ANZ. These are:

1. Handling a federal government bond deal: “Unconscionable” conduct in the management of a $14 billion government bond deal in April 2023, and incorrect reporting of bond trading data to the federal government, “overstating the volumes by tens of billions of dollars over almost two years”.

2. Customer hardship: Not responding to hundreds of customer hardship notices, sometimes for two years or more, nor having adequate hardship procedures.

3. Interest rates: Making false and misleading statements on its savings interest rates, resulting in the wrong rate being paid to “tens of thousands of customers”.

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