National Australia Bank (NAB) has been fined $1.4 million by the Australian Federal Court for improperly charging customers periodic payment fees without authorization.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reported that the bank wrongfully charged 2,888 personal account holders and 513 business accounts between January 2017 and July 2018, totaling 74,593 incorrect charges amounting to $139,845 AUD.
Sarah Court, deputy chair of ASIC, emphasized the responsibility of financial institutions to rectify such issues swiftly: “If systems have let customers down, we expect all financial institutions, especially our banks, to act quickly to reduce consumer harm.”
NAB has since refunded more than $8.3 million AUD to the affected account holders, acknowledging that “some customers were incorrectly charged for periodical payment fees several years ago,” as reported by Reuters.
Additionally, ASIC had previously sued NAB for overcharging customers due to misplaced fees, which occurred from 2015 to 2019.