ANZ is optimistic its proposed $4.9 billion acquisition of insurer Suncorp’s banking unit will be cleared by the competition regulator, and is counting on the public benefits of the merger to win approval.
The law firm that lost the first ever application for a group costs order in class actions against ANZ and Westpac has indicated it will revive its bid, tweaking a retainer agreement with group members in hopes of winning the court’s approval this time.
Macquarie Leasing has been let off the hook in a class action alleging that a flex commissions scheme by ANZ’s former car finance business encouraged dealers to set car loan rates far in excess of base rates in exchange for large kickbacks.
The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group hit hundreds of thousands of customers with cash advance fees after providing them with incorrect account balances, and the Big Four bank has still not rectified the problem, ASIC alleges in new civil penalty proceedings.
A former ANZ employee has won her bid to discover a range of documents in her long-running dispute with the bank over alleged discrimination related to her pregnancies with her first two children.
The former head of money markets at the Australian and New Zealand Banking Group has sued his former employer claiming he was sacked for making complaints about sexual harassment by senior managers at the bank and false reporting to the prudential regulator.
ANZ has hit back at claims in a class action that it slugged retrospective interest on credit card accounts and that its interest terms were not explicit, arguing the term ‘retrospective’ is liable to “confuse” the issues to be decided by the court.
The CDPP’s decision to drop all criminal cartel charges against two banks and four individuals in a “test case” over a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement shows the ACCC “lacks expertise and objectivity” on the financial markets and should leave them to ASIC to regulate, according to one of the former accused.
In a stunning reversal, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution has dropped all criminal cartel charges against two investment banks and four individuals in relation to a $2.5 billion ANZ share placement, four years after the charges were brought following an allegedly questionable investigation by the ACCC.
A judge has raised concerns about a $6 million penalty proposed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission against IOOF unit RI Advice for failing to rein in an adviser who reaped hefty commissions for steering clients towards risky investments.