Big banks among those penalised in commission-related proceedings
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has announced that it has secured $110 million in penalties from proceedings related to the financial services royal commission. ASIC said that all investigations related to the commission have been completed.
In an enforcement update for the period from July to December, ASIC said that 10 matters related to the commission were still before the courts, with a total of 24 civil and criminal cases pursued by the regulator, The Australian reported.
The July-December period, under new chairman Joe Longo, marked the filing of ASIC’s last civil case stemming from the royal commission. In December, the watchdog initiated civil proceedings against ANZ for allegedly misleading customers and failing to provide benefits, The Australian reported.
In commission-related actions more broadly, 26 people were charged in criminal proceedings as a result of criminal investigations, with a total of 178 criminal charges laid. Six custodial sentences and 10 non-custodial sentences were imposed. Ninety-nine defendants were prosecuted for strict liability offences, with 226 charges laid in summary prosecutions.
The courts imposed civil penalties of more than $83 million, with 21 civil penalty cases commenced, according to The Australian. There are currently 48 civil penalty cases before the courts.
A further 48 investigations were started during the period, with 139 investigations continuing. ASIC concluded 32 enforcement matters in financial services during the period.
As of January, the watchdog had 28 criminal and 48 civil financial services enforcement matters before the courts, The Australian reported.
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Among those are six cases against Westpac filed in November. Each of those cases resulted from an ASIC investigation of a variety of compliance failures in multiple Westpac businesses.
“The alleged conduct occurred over many years and caused harm to thousands of consumers,” ASIC said. “Westpac admitted ASIC’s allegations in all six of the proceedings and has agreed to remediate approximately $80 million to customers.”
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said in November that it was “unprecedented” for the regulator to file multiple cases against the same respondent simultaneously.
“However, these were exceptional circumstances,” Court said. “ASIC had numerous Westpac matters under investigation through the course of 2021, and we decided to expedite those matters for consideration by the court at the earliest opportunity.”
Among other allegations, Westpac was alleged to have charged more than $10 million in advice fees over the course of a decade to more than 11,000 deceased customers.
