The Federal Court has dismissed criminal proceedings against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA). CBA had pleaded guilty to 30 criminal charges of making false or misleading representations to customers when selling consumer credit insurance.
In a media release this morning, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the case was dismissed “due to the underlying criminal charges being statute barred.” The release said the Court found that the ASIC Act created a limitation period that required proceedings to start within three years of the offence taking place.
In September last year ASIC announced the filing of criminal charges against the CBA and said the matter was being prosecuted by the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP). However, the criminal conduct occurred between 2011 and 2015.
The ASIC media releases did not explain why the filing of criminal charges occurred years after the offenses took place.
The 30 criminal charges concerned CBA’s promotion and sale of CreditCard Plus and Loan Protection policies as an add-on insurance product. The charges alleged that CBA made false or misleading representations to customers. The bank was accused of telling customers that these insurance policies had uses or benefits when part or all of the benefits were not available.
The maximum penalty for each offence was $1,700,000.
The September 2021 ASIC release said CBA’s conduct was the subject of a case study by the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry.
