Australia-based ANZ Group has agreed to pay USD 160 million over systemic violations, including acting unethically in a government bond deal and other customer failures.
Announced on 15 September 2025, the charges come as a concerning milestone for one of Australia’s largest banks. Just shortly before this, ANZ also announced a 3,500 job cut as new leadership aims to scale profitability at a lender which is required to hold more capital in reserve compared to others due mostly to fallout from the bond deal.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), ANZ has previously broken the trust of Australians, and, as far as the unconscionable conduct is concerned, it was dishonourable. With the current announcement, ASIC has brought 11 civil penalty cases against ANZ since 2016. The total of these penalties exceeds nearly USD 106,491 million. As detailed by ASIC, the bank has admitted allegations in each of these cases. Now, representatives from ANZ mentioned that the financial institution must make a substantial change in how it operates. They told analysts and reporters that, by reaching this settlement, the bank is acknowledging that customers were let down. Additionally, ANZ apologised for its actions, planning to make the necessary changes.
Further details on ANZ’s reported actions
The current settlement, which is still under Federal Court approval, brings resolution to five separate investigations across ANZ’s Australian Markets and Retail divisions. The focus on the failures was the financial institution’s conduct during a USD 9.3 billion government bond issuance on 19 April 2023. As detailed by ASIC, instead of trading gradually to decrease market impact, ANZ sold substantial volumes of 10-year Australian bond futures around pricing time, putting downward pressure on bond prices while supporting the Australian Office and Financial Management’s debt issuance.
ANZ’s trading practices in the 45 minutes before the bond was due to price pushed bond futures pricing down two basis points, which cost the government about USD 17,344 million. The bank, however, said that it did not agree on the cost to the government but wanted to repay the USD 6,6 million it would have earned for its role in the deal. Since this transaction, ANZ has not participated in any government deals.
Furthermore, ANZ’s violations included customer service failures, as, between July 2013 and January 2024, the bank failed to pay promised bonus interest to new account holders due to system deficiencies. Additionally, the bank continued to charge fees to deceased customers for four years until June 2023, with it being unable to identify which fees should be waived or whether charges after death had been refunded.
By the end of September 2025, ANZ aims to submit a remediation plan to the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, projecting to spend approximately USD 100 million implementing reforms in the financial year ending 30 September 2026.
