Australia’s big banks have now paid more than $1.0 billion in compensation to investors for advice-related misconduct, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) reports.
The ASIC said that, as of Dec. 31, 2020, Australia’s big six banks have paid A$1.24 billion ($1.22 billion) to clients that suffered harm, including non-compliant advice, paying fees for no service and other sorts of misconduct.
The latest tally includes an additional A$193.6 million in compensation payments paid in the second half of 2020.
The banks’ compensation programs were established following internal reviews by the country’s major banks in response to two industry-wide reviews by the ASIC.
The regulators’ systemic advice reviews looked at firms failing to provide ongoing advice to clients despite continuing to charge ongoing fees and their failure to deliver compliant advice, among other issues.