6 big banks reimburse customers after breadth of failures

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has reported customers at AMP, ANZ, CBA, Macquarie, NAB and Westpac have been paid or offered $3.15 billion in reimbursements as at December 2021, after two major reviews.

One review found between 2009 and 2015 AMP, ANZ, CBA, Westpac, and NAB improperly identified and dealt with non-compliant advice by financial advisers.

Another in 2016 found, AMP, ANZ, CBA and NAB, as well as some of their product issuers, failed to provide ongoing advice services to customers who paid fees to receive those services.

Following the reviews, the institutions undertook a “review and remediation program” to compensate affected customers who suffered loss or detriment because of “fees for no service misconduct or non-compliant advice”.

By mid-2021 the total compensation cost was around $1.86 billion offered or paid to customers, which has since soared to $3.15 billion.

More than 1.3 million Australians will be, or have been covered by the remediation schemes.

NAB has paid or offered the most compensation out of any of the institutions for “fees for no service” and “non-complaint advice” totalling more than $1.2 billion to more than 750,000 customers.

Westpac was next in line, set to pay (or already paid) almost $953 million to 114,500 customers, followed by AMP with a total bill of $620 million.

CBA was pegged with $182 million in reimbursements paid (or offered) to customers, while ANZ had offered or paid around $168 million.

Macquarie had the least amount owing for fees for no service – totalling $4.6 million.

Related: ASIC sues AMP companies over fees-for-no-service