A total of 30 criminal charges have been filed today by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) over the lender’s promotion and sale of CreditCard Plus and Loan Protection policies as an add-on insurance product between 2011 and 2015.
In the Federal Court case, ASIC is accusing CBA of having made false or misleading representations to customers during the period that the consumer credit insurance policies had uses or benefits to them even though part or all the benefits were supposedly not available.
The matter, which is to be listed for first mention on a date to be fixed, is being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions following ASIC’s probe and referral.
Meanwhile the regulator noted: “CBA has cooperated with ASIC’s investigation to date.”
The bank’s alleged conduct was the subject of a case study by the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation, and Financial Services Industry.
