News: CBA UPDATE 1-Australian lender CBA's trading unit fined $12.7 mln over compliance failures

(Updates with more context on case, background)

Oct 25 (Reuters) - Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) said on Tuesday the country's federal court approved a A$20 million ($12.67 million) penalty against its trading unit over compliance failures in delivering financial services.

The penalty arises from a civil proceeding by the Australian Securities and Investments Commision (ASIC) in March 2021 against CBA's CommSec and Australian Investment Exchange (AUSIEX) on allegations of compliance breaches spanning a "significant" period of time.

The breaches included overcharging brokerage fees to customers and failing to provide confirmation of certain market transactions, among others, the corporate regulator had alleged.

CommSec Executive General Manager Richard Burns on Tuesday said, "CommSec has paid total remediation of A$6.5 million (including interest) to customers affected by the issues and this program is now complete."

The online stockbroking firm added that the court accepted there was "no evidence to indicate that any of the contraventions were deliberate."

Late last month, the Federal Court dismissed a separate petition arising from the Royal Commission against the top lender and its pension unit on allegations of improperly collecting commissions, dealing a blow to consumer advocates seeking tougher regulations. ($1 = 1.5790 Australian dollars) (([email protected]; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))