ANZ fined for review failure
ANZ will pay $3 million after an investigation found the lender failed to provide more than 10,000 customers annual reviews of their investments.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission says ANZ has also agreed to compensate its Prime Access customers who did not receive the documented reviews they had paid for between 2006 and 2013.
The bank has so far paid $46.81 million in remedies, with total compensation esti- mated to be $46.85 million.
ASIC conducted an investigation in 2015 into the Australian financial services sector in relation to the failure to deliver ongoing advice services to customers who were paying for them.
Following the investigation, the commission said it was concerned ANZ had not provided the annual reviews to customers who had paid for them.
ANZ also did not have adequate systems and processes in place for Prime Access customers and had failed to comply with the Corporations Act, it said.
The watchdog, led by chairman James Shipton, yesterday said it had accepted an enforceable undertaking from ANZ, which had acknowledged ASIC’s concerns were “reasonably held”.
As part of the enforceable undertaking, ANZ’s senior management will provide audited evidence that the lender has, since 2014, provided documentation to customers and further evidence of improvements to the bank’s compliance systems and processes.