ANZ Ordered to Pay $250M Penalty for Widespread Misconduct as Court Adds $10M Beyond ASIC Request

The Australian Federal Court has ordered Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) to pay $250 million in penalties for widespread misconduct and systemic failures that affected the Australian Government, taxpayers, and more than 65,000 retail customers.

The ruling marks the largest combined penalties ever secured by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) against a single entity.

ANZ admitted to the misconduct in September 2025 and, alongside ASIC, initially asked the Court to impose $240 million in penalties following four separate proceedings. Today, Justice Jonathan Beach increased the total by $10 million for the bank’s inaccurate reporting of secondary bond market turnover data.

The Court described ANZ’s conduct as both “inexcusable” and having “no redeeming feature whatsoever,” adding that “a very substantial penalty needs to be imposed to achieve both specific deterrence and general deterrence.”

Justice Beach ordered ANZ to pay:

• $135 million for institutional and markets misconduct, including mismanagement of a $14 billion government bond deal and inaccurate reporting of bond market turnover. This includes a record $80 million penalty for unconscionable conduct.
• $40 million for failing to respond to hundreds of customer hardship notices, in some cases for more than two years.
• $40 million for making false and misleading statements about savings interest rates and failing to pay promised rates to tens of thousands of customers.
• $35 million for charging fees to thousands of deceased customers and failing to respond to families managing estates within the required timeframes.

ASIC Chair Joe Longo said, “In the bond trading and misreporting matter, ANZ exposed the Australian Government to a significant risk of harm, denied the Government an opportunity to protect itself and the public interest, and mislead the government for nearly two years by overstating bond trading volumes by billions of dollars.”

He added, “ASIC estimates ANZ’s trading misconduct cost up to $26 million, reducing funds that could have supported essential public services.”

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, “Tens of thousands of customers suffered from systemic failures across ANZ’s retail bank, which extended to fundamental banking basics like paying the correct interest rate on savings accounts.”