The Federal Court has ordered ANZ (ASX:ANZ) to pay $250 million in penalties for widespread misconduct and systemic risk failures, up from the $240 million originally sought by the bank and the corporate regulator in September.
Justice Jonathan Beach increased the penalty by $10 million specifically for ANZ's inaccurate reporting of secondary bond market turnover to the Australian Government, describing the bank's conduct as "inexcusable" and without any redeeming features.
The court imposed $135 million for institutional and markets misconduct, including a record $80 million for unconscionable conduct in managing a $14 billion government bond deal, $40 million for mishandling hundreds of customer hardship notices, $40 million for misleading savings interest rate statements, and $35 million for failing to refund fees to deceased customers.