Court rules CBA must publish notice on its website detailing ‘false or misleading conduct’

The Commonwealth Bank has copped yet another penalty after overcharging customers by more than $2 million.

Australia’s corporate watchdog has welcomed a court order forcing the Commonwealth Bank to publish a notice on its website acknowledging its false or misleading conduct in overcharging customers by $2.2m.

In April the bank was ordered to pay $7m to the federal government after it charged more than 1500 customers higher-than-advertised interest rates between December 1, 2014 and March 31, 2018.

The Federal Court was told that the Commonwealth sent 12,119 statements to 1510 customers with simple business and business overdraft accounts stating they had been charged at a particular interest.

The corporate watchdog civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

However, the customers had actually been charged at rates up to double the amount reported in the statements.

In all, customers were overcharged a total of $2,238,554.94. They have since been remediated.

The court found the bank broke the terms and conditions of its contracts with customers, and the Commonwealth acknowledged it took too long to rectify the issues after a customer complaint.

On Monday the court ruled he Commonwealth must publish written and audio visual material on its website for the next 90 days detailing its conduct.

ASIC commissioner Sean Hughes welcomes Monday’s order. Picture: AAP Image/Peter Rae

Under the court order the material must appear on the Commonwealth homepage with the heading “Notification of Misconduct by CBA” and bearing the Federal Court logo.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission boss Sean Hughes said the court order was an important deterrent for business.

“Not only does it ensure that CBA’s customers and the general public are aware of the misconduct, it sends a strong message that there is significant financial and reputational risk for failing to have the systems in place to prevent overcharging,” Mr Hughes said.

The Commonwealth must provide a proposed version of its audio visual message to the court by August 27 and have been given a 30-day deadline to publish the material.