A range of banks have or will refund $93 million to low income customers following intervention by ASIC.
ASIC’s latest bank-fee review - Better and beyond: Expanding better banking outcomes to more low-income Australians - released yesterday, details banks’ responses to excessive fees charged on transaction accounts, affecting millions of Australians.
ASIC chair Joe Longo said, “Despite the improvements banks have made during our surveillance, there is clearly work to be done.
“It should not take an ASIC review to force $93 million in refunds or make banks assess their processes to ensure the trust and expectations placed in them are justified.
“Banks need to truly hear the messages in this report—read it, review it, and ask themselves some difficult questions about what led to this situation.
“We expect banks to regularly assess product design and distribution to ensure customers have the most appropriate products and that they are given the support they need.”
ASIC’s previous bank-fee report found banks had kept at least two million low-income Australians, who rely on Centrelink payments, in high fee accounts.