Australia's ANZ Fined Record A$250 Million for Misconduct, Risk Failures — Update

By Stuart Condie

SYDNEY--ANZ Group will pay the largest combined penalties ever secured by Australia's corporate regulator, over risk failures and widespread misconduct including in the handling of a US$9.26 billion government bond sale.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission on Friday said that Australia's Federal Court had raised the amount that the country's fourth-largest bank must pay to 250 million Australian dollars, equivalent to US$165.3 million.

In September, ANZ admitted to the misconduct and agreed to pay A$240 million in penalties as part of a settlement with ASIC.

However, a Federal Court judge raised the penalty by A$10 million, to A$50 million, for inaccurate reporting to the government of secondary bond market data.

ASIC said Friday that the A$250 million total was the highest combined penalty it had ever secured against a single entity.

The largest component of the sum was A$135 million for institutional and market misconduct relating to the management of a A$14 billion government bond deal, and the inaccurate data reporting.

"The size of the penalties ordered today underscores the seriousness of ANZ's misconduct and its far-reaching consequences for the government, taxpayers and tens of thousands of customers," ASIC Chair Joe Longo said.

"ANZ must overhaul its non-financial risk management and put the interests of clients, customers and the public first."

ANZ recorded a A$271 million charge in its most recent financial accounts to cover the ASIC settlement and associated costs. On Friday, it said the increased fine was covered by existing provisions.

Last month, it posted a 10% drop in annual profit as it recorded A$1.11 billion in one-off costs, including the penalties, impairments, and redundancy costs.

Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 18, 2025 22:23 ET (03:23 GMT)