Australian watchdog sues CBA over allegations of overcharging customers

Nov 12 (Reuters) - Australia's corporate regulator has launched civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX in the Federal Court over allegations of overcharging the lender's business customers in fees they were not informed about, it said on Thursday.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleged that around 42,000 CommBiz customers were overcharged roughly A$8.5 million ($5.82 million) in fees between November 2020 and May 31, 2025.

Here are some more details:

• CommBiz is CBA's flagship online business banking platform for medium-to-large businesses

• ASIC alleged that CommBiz's terms and conditions failed to clearly disclose all fees charged for customers' direct debit and direct credit transactions

• The regulator said customers were charged additional undisclosed fees linked to the movement of funds into or out of their CommBiz accounts

• ASIC further alleged that CBA had received customer complaints about the issue from at least 2015, while a 2016 internal audit had identified overcharging issues and required corrective action

• CBA, in a separate statement, acknowledged ASIC's proceedings and said that the lender self-identified the matter and reported it to the regulator, and fully cooperated with the investigation

• The bank, however, said it does not accept the way some allegations were formulated and expects to defend certain aspects of the claim, or otherwise continue to engage with ASIC

($1 = 1.4601 Australian dollars)