The Commonwealth Bank’s brokerage business, CommSec is facing civil action initiated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleging it overcharged brokerage fees to customers on 120,933 occasions, totalling $4,352,194 for nearly 10 years.
ASIC announced it has commenced civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Commonwealth Securities Limited (CommSec) and Australian Investment Exchange Limited (AUSIEX) for alleged breaches of the Market Integrity Rules, Corporations Act and ASIC Act (CommSec only) relating to systemic compliance failures in the delivery of financial services.
In the case of Commsec, ASIC is alleging the overcharging of brokerage fees occurred between August 2010 and February 2020.
An ASIC announcement said the regulator was alleging the conduct spanned a significant period of time and involved failures across multiple systems and business areas. Commsec and AUSIEX submitted over 60 notifications to ASIC relating to the conduct.