Australia's corporate regulator said on Thursday it had sued Commonwealth Bank of Australia in the Federal Court, alleging the country's biggest lender overcharged about 42,000 business customers roughly A$8.5 million in fees it never disclosed. The announcement came a day after Macquarie Bank admitted failures in how it marketed a savings offer and agreed with the regulator on a proposed A$14 million penalty.

For investors who hold Australian bank shares across Asia, the two actions by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission point to a regulator that lists misleading pricing practices among its enforcement priorities, and that is pursuing systems and governance failures at the largest institutions rather than one-off errors.

ASIC targets Commonwealth Bank's CommBiz fees

The CBA case centers on CommBiz, the bank's online banking platform for business customers. ASIC alleges the platform's terms told customers they would pay one fee for each Direct Debit or Direct Credit payment to or from a third-party account. In practice, the regulator says, CBA also charged a second, undisclosed fee for the matching movement of money into or out of the customer's own account, which ASIC calls a "contra leg" fee.

The regulator gave an example: a small business paying fortnightly wages to 10 employees from two CommBiz accounts was charged 12 fees rather than 10.

ASIC's claim covers November 2020 to May 2025. But the regulator alleges the misleading terms had been in place since CommBiz launched in 2006, that CBA received customer complaints from at least 2015, and that a 2016 internal audit found overcharging of Direct Debit fees and required corrective action. It also alleges governance failings meant the statements were not identified and fixed, and that the bank failed to act efficiently, honestly and fairly.

ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said the conduct, as alleged, showed Australia's biggest bank failing to get the basics right over many years. He said ASIC alleges CBA "broke a basic promise to its business customers."

According to ASIC, CBA temporarily stopped charging the fees in June 2025, amended the CommBiz terms that August, and has waived the contra leg fees since February 2026. The bank has completed a remediation program reaching back to December 2006 that paid more than A$26.4 million to about 93,000 CommBiz customers, including around 40,000 small businesses, the regulator said.

ASIC is seeking declarations, financial penalties, adverse publicity orders and costs, The Adviser reported. CBA apologized but said it would defend certain aspects of the claim or keep talking with ASIC to resolve it, ABC News reported. The allegations have not been tested in court.

Macquarie admits Welcome Rate failures

The Macquarie matter is further along. In proceedings ASIC brought in the New South Wales Supreme Court, Macquarie admitted contravening the Corporations Act over its Welcome Rate offer for new savings customers, according to the regulator. The two sides jointly proposed a A$14 million penalty, which still needs the court's approval.

Between Dec. 1, 2021, and Sept. 9, 2022, Macquarie promoted the rate as a "welcome variable rate" or a "bonus." ASIC alleges that wording could lead customers to think it was paid on top of the standard variable rate. In fact, the Welcome Rate generally worked as a fixed rate that replaced the standard rate for the four-month promotional period. As interest rates rose in 2022, the gap between the two could shrink or vanish, and customers whose standard rate overtook the Welcome Rate only received the standard rate.

Macquarie also admitted its advertising framework was not rigorous enough to spot the risk of customer confusion, ASIC said. The penalty sits on top of A$8.8 million in remediation the bank has already paid to nearly 40,000 customers. ASIC's action followed an April 2025 determination by the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

"This wasn't just unclear wording," Kirkland said of Macquarie's systems and controls, according to ABC News. Ben Perham, Macquarie's head of banking and financial services, said the bank should have explained the rate better and apologized for the confusion, ABC reported. He said ASIC had acknowledged the bank's actions were not deliberate. Macquarie has reviewed all product descriptions on its website, the broadcaster said.

Savings rates in focus

Kirkland told ABC that Australians hold almost A$1.8 trillion in household deposits and urged savers to check whether their bank is paying the rate it promised, since the conditions attached to higher rates can be hard to follow.

ASIC said the CBA case aligns with its enforcement priorities on misleading pricing practices and on systemic failures by large financial institutions that cause widespread consumer harm, The Adviser reported. The CBA case now waits for a first hearing date, while the Macquarie penalty goes to the NSW Supreme Court for approval.