FILE PHOTO: The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) logo is pictured at the Australian bank’s headquarters in Sydney, Australia, February 15, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Reed/File Photo
September 16, 2021
(Reuters) -Australia’s securities regulator said on Thursday 30 criminal charges had been filed in the federal court against top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia for mis-selling consumer credit insurance to its customers.
The charges relate to promotion and sale of certain policies as an add-on insurance product, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said https://bit.ly/3EkI1g1.
In April, the ASIC also sued no. 2 lender Westpac Banking Corp and alleged it sold consumer credit insurance to customers who had not agreed to buy it.
ASIC said on Thursday the charges address allegations that between 2011 and 2015, CBA made false or misleading representations about benefits of the insurance policies to customers when some or all the benefits were not available.
The development follows criminal prosecution for alleged false and misleading representations against Bank of Queensland’s unit ME Bank in May.
CBA’s matter is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the bank has cooperated with the ASIC’s investigation to date, according to the regulator.
CBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Shashwat Awasthi; Additional reporting by Tejaswi Marthi; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
