Key facts
- ASIC filed civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the Federal Court on November 12, 2026.
- ASIC alleged about 42,000 CommBiz customers were overcharged roughly A$8.5 million ($5.82 million) in fees from November 2020 to May 31, 2025.
- CommBiz is CBA's flagship online business banking platform for medium-to-large businesses, the report said.
- ASIC said CommBiz terms failed to accurately disclose all fees charged for direct debit and direct credit transactions.
- ASIC said the misleading terms dated to CommBiz's 2006 launch, meaning about 19 years of overcharging.
- CBA said it self-reported and cooperated, but does not accept some allegations and expects to defend certain aspects.
Australia's corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, said on Thursday it has filed civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the Federal Court, alleging the lender overcharged business customers through undisclosed fees.
ASIC alleged that about 42,000 of CBA's CommBiz customers were overcharged roughly A$8.5 million ($5.82 million) in fees between November 2020 and May 31, 2025. CommBiz is CBA's flagship online business banking platform for medium-to-large businesses.
ASIC said CommBiz's terms and conditions failed to accurately disclose all fees charged for direct debit and direct credit transactions. The regulator further said the issue extended longer, with misleading terms in place since CommBiz was launched in 2006, resulting in business customers being overcharged for about 19 years. CBA had received customer complaints from at least 2015, and a 2016 internal audit identified overcharging issues and called for corrective action, ASIC said.
The lender temporarily ceased charging the relevant fees in June 2025, amended CommBiz terms in August 2025 and has waived the "contra leg" fees for processing direct debits and direct credits since February 2026, ASIC said. CBA said it had self-reported the matter and cooperated fully with ASIC's investigation, but does not accept some of the allegations, adding it expects to defend certain aspects of the claim while continuing to engage with the regulator.
ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said: "What makes this particularly concerning is how long the alleged conduct went on, despite customer complaints to Commonwealth Bank pointing to a problem years earlier."
CBA shares rose 1.6%, while the banking sub-index was up 0.2%, according to the report. The report did not state the session date for those moves. The report also said the case is the first major action under ASIC Chair Sarah Court, who took office on June 1.