a refund of all the interest and fees they paid to ANZ and ASB during the period in question. This could amount to a total exceeding $100 million, given the large number of customers affected, as well as the inclusion of home loans, on which higher interest and fees are charged. Therefore, his law firm filed a multimillion-dollar class action against the two Australian-owned Kiwi banks last week, seeking justice for more than 150,000 customers.
“In this case, the banks have continued to charge interest and fees despite not being entitled to do so,” Russell, a former Senior Legal Counsel at the Commerce Commission, alleged. “The banks’ failures to refund their customers constitute serious breaches of the provisions of the CCCFA.”
Responding to the allegations, a spokeswoman for ANZ noted that the bank the matter has already been subject to regulatory oversight and the bank believes it has fairly remediated its customers.
Nevertheless, the tens of thousands of customers who were affected by the breaches claim that the settlements agreed by the banks, with the Commerce Commission, were not enough. “Hiring expensive lawyers and agreeing to significantly reduced payments with regulators means the banks have avoided repaying what they owe to their customers,” Anthony Simons, an ASB customer participating in the class action, said. “Banks are the first to enforce the rules when they are owed money, yet they ask for leniency when they break the law. If we do not challenge this kind of behaviour, we are condoning it and allowing it to continue.”
