ASIC sues CBA over alleged $8.5m business overcharges

Australia’s corporate regulator, ASIC, has filed civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank, alleging its CommBiz terms failed to clearly disclose fees for direct debit and credit payments. ASIC says the bank charged an additional fee for moving money into or out of customers’ own accounts, and that about 42,000 businesses were overcharged roughly A$8.5 million between November 2020 and May 2025. The regulator alleges the misleading terms dated to CommBiz’s 2006 launch and says CBA received complaints from 2015 and identified the issue in a 2016 audit. CBA says it identified and reported the matter, cooperated with ASIC, completed customer remediation costing more than A$26.4 million, and has taken steps to reduce the risk of similar problems; it apologized to affected customers but disputes aspects of ASIC’s allegations.