The corporate regulator confirmed on Friday (26 November) that it has commenced proceedings in the Federal Court against ANZ relating to its home loan “introducer program” – which involves home loan referrals to ANZ from third party “introducers” – and from unlicensed individuals outside the program.

It’s alleged that between June 2016 and March 2018, ANZ accepted customer information and documents from introducers and unlicensed individuals – which would be a breach of the consumer protection laws – and that some of the documents were fraudulent.

Between 2015 and June 2020, over 50,000 loans were referred to ANZ through the introducer program, with lending understood to be over $18.5 billion.

“ASIC is concerned that as a result of this conduct, some loans may have been granted by ANZ based on false information and some consumers may have entered into home loans that were beyond their ability to pay,” ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said.

“If banks are going to accept referrals of consumers seeking a home loan from unlicensed individuals, who receive commission payments for the referrals, they need to make sure they have the right systems in place to properly process those referrals.”

ASIC has further alleged that ANZ breached its general conduct obligations as an Australian credit licence holder between November 2015 and June 2020 by “failing to take reasonable steps to ensure its representatives did not conduct business with unlicensed third parties”.

ANZ responded to the proceedings in a statement released on Friday.

“ANZ has co-operated with ASIC during its investigation and has established a customer remediation program as well as continuously improving its home loan processes and controls,” the statement read.

“ANZ is considering the matters raised in the Concise Statement and will not be providing further comment given the matter is now before the courts.”

ASIC is seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties and other orders.