EL7.AI
StocksMedium•12 November 2026•
5 min read

ASIC sues Commonwealth Bank over alleged A$8.5 million in excess fees

Key Facts

1ASIC says about 42,000 customers were charged nearly A$8.5 million in excess fees between November 2020 and 31 May 2025.
2The bank said its remediation program paid more than A$26.4 million to about 93,000 customers, including nearly 40,000 small businesses.
3In ASIC's example, a business paying 10 employees from two accounts was charged 12 fees, including two undisclosed fees.
4ASIC says customer complaints began in 2015 at the latest, and an internal audit in 2016 identified excess fees.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) began civil proceedings in the Federal Court on 12 November seeking a penalty against Commonwealth Bank, alleging that the terms of its CommBiz platform did not clearly and accurately disclose all fees charged on direct debit and direct credit payments. The regulator says about 42,000 customers were overcharged a total of nearly A$8.5 million from November 2020 to 31 May 2025. These remain allegations in a case that has not been decided. The case concerns fees on money transfers businesses use for recurring transactions, including payroll. ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said: "We allege that Commonwealth Bank broke a basic promise to its business customers."

According to ASIC, the bank told customers about fees for transfers to or from a third-party account, but also charged an additional, undisclosed fee on the corresponding movement of funds to or from a CommBiz account. The regulator says this fee was linked to the processing of direct debit and direct credit payments, leaving customers with a cost the terms did not adequately explain. In ASIC's example, a small business paid 10 employees every two weeks from two accounts on the platform. ASIC says the business was charged 12 fees: 10 on payments to employees and two additional, undisclosed fees for debits from the accounts. The example shows how small charges on each transaction can recur with regular business payments.

ASIC says the terms at issue had been in place since CommBiz launched in 2006, and that the bank had received customer complaints about the problem since at least 2015. The regulator also points to an internal audit conducted in 2016, which it says identified excess charges on direct debit payments and the need for corrective action. ASIC alleges governance failures prevented the misleading information from being identified and corrected. According to the regulator, the problem continued despite the complaints and audit, before the relevant fees were temporarily suspended in June 2025 and the platform's terms were changed in August that year. Since February 2026, the bank says it has exempted direct debit and direct credit payment processing from "counterparty" fees.

Commonwealth Bank said the issue arose from changes to some terms that were intended to simplify them but did not accurately reflect how fees were calculated. It added that it identified the problem itself, notified ASIC and cooperated with the regulator during its investigation. The bank apologised to affected customers, but said it disagreed with the way some allegations had been framed and expected to defend aspects of the case or continue working with the regulator to resolve the proceedings. It said the fee in question was 25 Australian cents, plus goods and services tax. These low individual fees illustrate the difference between the cost of a single transaction and the cumulative impact ASIC attributes to thousands of customers over several years.

The bank said it had completed a remediation program covering current and former CommBiz customers for the period from 1 December 2006 to the present. The report said the program resulted in payments of more than A$26.4 million to about 93,000 customers, including nearly 40,000 small businesses. According to bank figures cited in the report, the median remediation payment was about A$85, while the mean was about A$442, including interest, as of 20 October 2026. The program's scope, in terms of period, customers and amounts, exceeds the period, customer count and value ASIC cites in its allegations about excess fees. The remediation program alone does not establish the outcome of the case or the bank's legal liability.

In separate economic data, Australian business confidence fell one point to -15 in October, according to a NAB survey, while business conditions declined one point to -2. Forward orders fell 11 points to -12. NAB said the decline was broad-based and led by construction and manufacturing, and warned it pointed to the possibility of further weakness in trading conditions. The Westpac–Melbourne Institute consumer sentiment index also fell 2.7% to 78.2 in November from 80.4 in October, its lowest level since late 2022, according to Westpac. Westpac attributed November's decline to a sharp deterioration in the near-term economic outlook, with cost-of-living pressures and interest-rate concerns persisting. These economic indicators are not directly linked to the case against the bank.

The case was filed in the Federal Court late on Wednesday afternoon, according to an ABC report published on 12 November. The court had not set a case-management hearing date when the report was published. The proceedings are therefore at an early stage, while the bank says it intends to defend aspects of the claim and has cooperated with ASIC. The case will address allegations concerning fee disclosure and governance, as well as the regulator's findings on complaints and the internal audit. The report did not give a specific date for the next court event.