The bank is facing penalties for accepting home loan referrals from unlicensed third parties
The Federal Court has slapped ANZ with a $10 million fine in relation to its Home Loan Introducer Program, according to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The Introducer Program involved home loan referrals to ANZ from third-party “introducers” from various professions, including cleaners and real estate agents, ASIC said.
“Under consumer protection laws, ANZ’s Introducer Program should have only accepted names and contact details for customers from [licensed] third parties,” said Sarah Court, ASIC deputy chair. “Instead, ANZ was sent sensitive information by unlicensed intermediaries, including pay slips and copies of identification documents. In some cases, these documents were fraudulent.”
The Federal Court found that between March 2017 and March 2018, ANZ violated consumer credit protection laws by accepting information and documents related to 50 mortgage applications from third parties who were not licensed to engage in credit activities.
The court also found that between November 2015 and March 2018, ANZ lacked adequate processes in its Introducer Program to ensure compliance and failed to take reasonable steps to ensure the bank’s representatives complied with consumer credit protection laws, ASIC said.
“By failing to have robust compliance and training processes in place, ANZ made it possible for third-party intermediaries to misrepresent consumers’ financial details in order to receive commissions on loans approved based on possibly misleading information,” Court said.
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ANZ admitted the violations and has agreed to conduct a review of the policies and procedures related to its Introducer Program to ensure compliance with credit laws. The bank has also been ordered to pay ASIC’s costs.
In October, ANZ was hit with $236 million in fines and remediation after ASIC charged that it failed to provide customers of its “Breakfree” packages with promised benefits. In April 2022, Westpac was fined $12 million when the regulator said it overcharged distressed customers after sending them to debt collectors.
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