Breaking: Commonwealth Bank allegedly overcharged business customers
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Commonwealth Bank allegedly overcharged millions of dollars in fees to tens of thousands of business customers, many of them small businesses, according to the corporate regulator.
ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings against Australia's biggest bank, alleging customers have been overcharged fees they were never told about.
ASIC alleged CBA's CommBiz terms and conditions were misleading because they failed to clearly and accurately disclose all the fees business customers would be charged for direct debit and direct credit payments.
Business customers were told they would be charged a fee for a payment to or from a third-party account.
However, ASIC alleges CBA also charged an additional, undisclosed fee for the corresponding movement of money into or out of the customer's CommBiz account.
ASIC alleges that between November 2020 and May 31, 2025, about 42,000 CommBiz customers were overcharged about $8.5 million in fees.
ASIC alleges that in one example a small business paying the fortnightly wages of 10 employees from two CommBiz accounts was charged 12 fees: 10 for the payments to its employees and another two undisclosed fees for the money being withdrawn from its own accounts.
"We allege Commonwealth Bank broke a basic promise to its business customers," ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said.
"Small businesses are busy enough. They should not have to scrutinise every transaction to make sure that their bank is charging them the right fees."
ASIC alleges business customers were overcharged for about 19 years, with the allegedly misleading terms and conditions in place from the launch of CommBiz in 2006.
ASIC further alleges CBA received customer complaints about the issue from at least 2015, while a 2016 internal audit identified overcharging of direct debit fees and required corrective action.
ASIC also alleges governance failings at CBA meant the alleged misleading statements were not identified and corrected, and that CBA allegedly failed to act efficiently, honestly and fairly.
"What makes this particularly concerning is how long the alleged conduct went on, despite customer complaints to Commonwealth Bank pointing to a problem years earlier," Mr Kirkland said.
The court has not yet listed the matter for a case management hearing.
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