Borrow
Big 4 bank slapped with $18.5m fine for inflicting harm on customers
NAB has been slapped with an $18.5 million fine for causing harm to customers.
Big 4 bank slapped with $18.5m fine for inflicting harm on customers
The Federal Court has ordered National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) to pay an $18.5 million penalty for failures relating to misleading fee disclosure statements.
The court also declared that NAB contravened its obligations as an Australian Financial Services Licence holder to act efficiently, honestly and fairly by failing to have procedures and systems in place to provide timely and effective fee disclosure statements.
“NAB’s system failures resulted in significant fee disclosure failures over an extended period. This caused harm to customers as the inaccurate information meant they couldn’t make informed decisions about the financial services they were paying for,” said ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court.
“The penalty of $18.5 million handed down to NAB is a timely reminder to financial services licensees to ensure they meet their obligations to their clients.”
According to the court, NAB breached the law on numerous occasions when it charged fees for personal advice without giving customers compliant fee disclosure statements; failed to provide fee disclosure statements to clients within the time required; and, made false or misleading representations to clients in fee disclosure statements about the amount clients had paid for services.
Moreover, NAB failed to maintain systems and procedures to identify whether services were provided in accordance with client service agreements; its fee disclosure statements were compliant; and it was prohibited from charging service fees.
“Customers need to have confidence in their financial services providers that they will be charged correctly for the services they receive and given accurate and timely information,” said deputy chair Court.
Shortly after ASIC’s notice, NAB responded by issuing a statement of acknowledgment.
NAB group executive, legal and commercial services, Sharon Cook said: “We sincerely apologise to those customers who were impacted by this issue.
“To address this issue, NAB stopped charging ongoing service fees to customers of its former NAB Financial Planning business in 2019. In 2020, we established a remediation program which has to date paid approximately $31 million to more than 15,000 customers in order to make things right,” Ms Cook said.
NAB has also been ordered to pay ASIC’s costs.
RELATED ARTICLES
About the author
About the author
Banking
Open banking in action: An early adopter’s playbook—and the ROI case for Australian brokers
Open banking is shifting from conference buzzword to operational backbone in Australia’s broking sector. Early adopters are using bank-grade data and AI to compress underwriting cycles, cut compliance ...Read more
Banking
Australian brokerage pedals ahead using consented data for a speedy advantage
Open banking is no longer a concept; it is an operating model shift changing how brokers originate and package credit. Australia’s early movers, backed by the Consumer Data Right (CDR) and a ...Read more
Banking
BOQ’s mortgage squeeze is a market signal: where banks will win next as competition bites
Bank of Queensland’s shrinking home-loan book is more than a single-institution story; it’s a barometer of how Australia’s mortgage market is being rewired by broker power, non-bank agility and ...Read more
Banking
RBA’s next move: Why a November cut could reset corporate risk budgets
Australia’s unemployment rate has risen to a four‑year high, sharpening the case for another Reserve Bank easing as growth moderates. With GDP expanding 0.6% in the June quarter and 1.8% year on year, ...Read more
Banking
PayPal Open Debuts in Australia: A Unified Platform for Business Growth
Sydney, 14 October 2025 – In a significant move to bolster commerce capabilities for businesses across Australia, PayPal has officially launched its new merchant platform, PayPal OpenRead more
Banking
RBA holds interest rates steady at 3.6% amid strong labour market and inflation concerns
In a widely anticipated move, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced that it would maintain the cash rate at 3.6%. The decision was unanimous, reflecting a cautious approach as the central bank ...Read more
Banking
Hardship is the new conduct frontier: A bank’s playbook for turning ASIC scrutiny into ROI
ASIC has put financial hardship on its 2025 enforcement radar, shifting lender performance from a customer service problem to a board-level conduct risk. This case study examines how an Australian ...Read more
Banking
RBA flags price uplift as Home Guarantee expansion accelerates: what it means for banks, builders and the bottom line
Australia’s expanded Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) has been brought forward to 1 October, compressing a multi‑year policy shift into weeks. The RBA expects the changes to lift borrowing capacity and add ...Read more
Banking
Open banking in action: An early adopter’s playbook—and the ROI case for Australian brokers
Open banking is shifting from conference buzzword to operational backbone in Australia’s broking sector. Early adopters are using bank-grade data and AI to compress underwriting cycles, cut compliance ...Read more
Banking
Australian brokerage pedals ahead using consented data for a speedy advantage
Open banking is no longer a concept; it is an operating model shift changing how brokers originate and package credit. Australia’s early movers, backed by the Consumer Data Right (CDR) and a ...Read more
Banking
BOQ’s mortgage squeeze is a market signal: where banks will win next as competition bites
Bank of Queensland’s shrinking home-loan book is more than a single-institution story; it’s a barometer of how Australia’s mortgage market is being rewired by broker power, non-bank agility and ...Read more
Banking
RBA’s next move: Why a November cut could reset corporate risk budgets
Australia’s unemployment rate has risen to a four‑year high, sharpening the case for another Reserve Bank easing as growth moderates. With GDP expanding 0.6% in the June quarter and 1.8% year on year, ...Read more
Banking
PayPal Open Debuts in Australia: A Unified Platform for Business Growth
Sydney, 14 October 2025 – In a significant move to bolster commerce capabilities for businesses across Australia, PayPal has officially launched its new merchant platform, PayPal OpenRead more
Banking
RBA holds interest rates steady at 3.6% amid strong labour market and inflation concerns
In a widely anticipated move, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced that it would maintain the cash rate at 3.6%. The decision was unanimous, reflecting a cautious approach as the central bank ...Read more
Banking
Hardship is the new conduct frontier: A bank’s playbook for turning ASIC scrutiny into ROI
ASIC has put financial hardship on its 2025 enforcement radar, shifting lender performance from a customer service problem to a board-level conduct risk. This case study examines how an Australian ...Read more
Banking
RBA flags price uplift as Home Guarantee expansion accelerates: what it means for banks, builders and the bottom line
Australia’s expanded Home Guarantee Scheme (HGS) has been brought forward to 1 October, compressing a multi‑year policy shift into weeks. The RBA expects the changes to lift borrowing capacity and add ...Read more
