Commonwealth Bank overcharging business customers fees ASIC, Digi Mart USA News (Australia): Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has been accused by the corporate watchdog of overcharging business customers, many of them small business owners, millions of dollars in fees.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleges CBA overcharged tens of thousands of businesses approximately $8.5 million in fees between November 2020 and May 2025 that they were “never told about.” ASIC has commenced civil penalty proceedings against Australia’s biggest bank.
ASIC alleges that some business customers were told they would be charged a fee for a payment to or from a third-party account, but the bank then charged an extra, undisclosed fee for the movement of money out of a CommBiz account. “For example, a small business paying the fortnightly wages of ten employees from two CommBiz accounts was charged 12 fees: ten for the payments to its employees and another two undisclosed fees for the money being withdrawn from its own accounts,” ASIC alleges.
The watchdog said around 42,000 CommBiz customers were overcharged during a nearly five-year period. ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland alleges CBA “broke a basic promise” to its business customers.
“Small businesses are busy enough. They should not have to scrutinise every transaction to make sure that their bank is charging them the right fees,” Kirkland said.
ASIC alleges that business customers may have been overcharged for around 19 years. It claims the allegedly misleading terms and conditions, which allegedly failed to clearly disclose all fees charged for direct debit and direct credit payments, have been in place since the launch of CommBiz in 2006.
The watchdog further alleges CBA received customer complaints about the fees from at least 2015, “while a 2016 internal audit identified overcharging of direct debit fees and required corrective action,” ASIC added. ASIC claimed the allegedly misleading statements were not identified and corrected for so long due to governance failings within the bank.
“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,” Kirkland added.
“This action should serve as a warning to banks that failing to get the basics right will attract ASIC attention,” he said. ASIC is seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties, adverse publicity orders, ancillary orders and costs.
The Federal Court has not yet listed the matter for a hearing.
In a statement shared with the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), CBA said it self-reported the issue to ASIC and has fully cooperated with the watchdog. The bank said it has taken steps to reduce the risk of similar incidents and that affected customers have been refunded.
CBA said it has completed remediation of impacted CommBiz customers who were charged the relevant component of the Direct Credit and Direct Debit fees since December 2006, with such payments provided for in FY2026.
As of October 20, 2026, the median payment made to affected CommBiz customers was approximately $85, and the mean payment was approximately $442, inclusive of interest. CBA said it did not get things right for CommBiz customers and apologized to all customers impacted, but added that it does not accept the way some allegations have been formulated.
The bank said it expects to defend certain aspects of the claim or otherwise continue to engage with ASIC to efficiently resolve the proceedings.
