Who Me? Bank faces court over charges

ME Bank will square off against the corporate regulator and Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in November, after the lender was hit with 62 criminal charges linked to a home loan redraw scandal.

ME – which was acquired by Bank of Queensland for almost $1.33bn earlier this year – will face the charges in the Federal Court.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has accused ME of making false and misleading representations to mortgage customers and failing to provide appropriate notice about interest rate changes.

The regulator said the charges against ME were the first criminal prosecution under consumer protection provision s12DB of the ASIC Act.

If the maximum penalties are imposed for all the charges levelled at ME, it will face a penalty of almost $95m.

ASIC said 44 of the charges related to letters issued by ME to home loan customers between September 2016 and September 2018, which allegedly made “false and misleading” representations.