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# Federal Court Orders ANZ to Pay A$250 Million in Penalties Across Bond Misconduct, Hardship Failures, and Savings Rate Misrepresentations
- URL: https://www.theglobalbanker.com/federal-court-anz-250-million-penalties-bond-misconduct-hardship-savings-rate/
- Published: 2025-12-19T11:37:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T14:21:18.000Z
- Description: Australia's Federal Court has ordered ANZ to pay A$250 million in penalties for bond market misconduct, hardship failures, and false savings rate claims affecting tens of thousands of customers.
- Author: TGB Editorial Team
- Tags: Regulations, Asia-Pacific, #archive

Australia's Federal Court has ordered ANZ to pay A$250 million in combined civil penalties, a figure that exceeded the A$240 million amount the bank and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission had agreed upon. The order, handed down on 19 December 2025, encompasses four separate categories of misconduct and follows seven earlier ASIC enforcement matters against ANZ since 2017.

The largest component of the penalty — A$135 million — relates to ANZ's management of a A$14 billion Australian government bond transaction and inaccurate reporting of secondary bond market turnover data to the Australian Government. Within that figure, the court imposed A$80 million specifically for unconscionable conduct. 

#### HARDSHIP NOTICES AND FEES ON DECEASED ACCOUNTS

Beyond the bond transaction penalties, the court imposed a further A$40 million for ANZ's failure to respond adequately to 488 hardship notices submitted by financially distressed customers, with the bank in some cases taking more than two years to address those requests. 

A separate A$40 million penalty was imposed for false statements about savings interest rates made to 56,703 customers, with ANZ failing to pay the promised interest to 26,917 of them. A fourth penalty of A$35 million was imposed for failing to refund fees charged to thousands of deceased customers and failing to respond to representatives of deceased estates within the required timeframe. With the seven earlier matters listed by ASIC, which carried penalties of about A$76 million, ANZ has now been ordered to pay more than A$325 million in penalties in ASIC proceedings since 2017.

#### COURT EXCEEDS AGREED PENALTY AMOUNT

ANZ and ASIC had jointly asked the court to impose A$240 million, but Justice Jonathan Beach increased the penalty for ANZ's inaccurate reporting of secondary bond market turnover data by A$10 million, to A$50 million, finding that conduct 'inexcusable'. 

APRA's separate A$1 billion operational risk capital charge against ANZ remains in place, pending the completion of the bank's broader risk management remediation programme.