ASIC Sues Commonwealth Bank Over Alleged CommBiz Fee Overcharging

Australia’s financial regulator has launched civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), alleging the bank charged about 42,000 CommBiz business customers roughly A$8.5 million in undisclosed fees between November 2020 and 31 May 2025. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) says many affected customers were small businesses and that CBA’s CommBiz terms and conditions did not clearly disclose all charges for Direct Debit and Direct Credit payments. Customers were told they would pay a fee for a payment to or from a third-party account, ASIC alleges. But the bank also charged a fee for the corresponding movement of money into or out of the customer’s own CommBiz account, a charge ASIC calls a “contra leg” fee. In one example cited by the regulator, a business paying wages to 10 employees from two accounts was charged 12 fees: 10 for payments to employees and two additional fees for withdrawals from its own accounts. ASIC alleges the misleading terms had been in place since CommBiz launched in 2006. It says CBA received complaints about the fees from at least 2015 and that a 2016 internal audit identified overcharging of Direct Debit fees and called for corrective action. The regulator also alleges governance failures meant the statements were not identified and corrected, and that CBA failed to act efficiently, honestly and fairly. ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said the case concerns the bank’s alleged failure to deliver on the fees promised to business customers. CBA temporarily stopped charging the relevant fees in June 2025, amended its CommBiz terms in August 2025 and has waived the fees for Direct Debit and Direct Credit processing since February 2026. The bank has also completed a remediation program covering past and current customers from 1 December 2006, paying more than A$26.4 million to about 93,000 customers, including around 40,000 small businesses. ASIC is seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties, adverse publicity and ancillary orders, and costs. The court has not yet listed a case management hearing. Customers who believe they were affected and have not received remediation are advised to contact CBA.