Commonwealth Bank has pleaded guilty to 30 criminal charges of making false or misleading representations to 165 customers when selling consumer credit insurance.

ASIC said in a statement issued on Friday that the offences related to CBA’s CreditCard Plus and Loan Protection Policies, which were sold as add-on insurance products.

The false or misleading representations, which were made between 2011 and 2015, were that customers could claim against the policies “when some or all of these claims were not available to them”.

CBA issued a statement last month, saying it had co-operated with ASIC during its investigation and would plead guilty. It has agreed to a statement of facts with ASIC and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.

The bank said the contraventions occurred when it did not adequately disclose to customers at the point of sale they that they were not eligible for certain benefits under the policies because of their employment status.

“In 2011 the wrong decision was made to remove qualifying questions about the employment status of a customer from some mandatory sales scripts. Those questions would have disclosed at the point of sale whether the customer would be eligible for certain benefits under those polices.”

CBA self-reported the matter to ASIC in 2015. It has compensated 165 customers.

Mis-selling of consumer credit insurance has been on ASIC’s radar for some time. In 2019, it released the findings of a review of the sector, saying the design and sale of CCI had consistently failed consumers. Products were of “low value” and sales practices “unfair”.

CCI also came in for attention at the Hayne royal commission, which was equally critical. Since then, many financial institutions have stopped selling the product.