The Banking Code Compliance Committee has sanctioned ANZ for not stopping or refunding fees for deceased estates, as well as not responding to representatives of deceased estates within the required timeframe.
The sanctions come off the back of last year's BCCC inquiry into banks' compliance with their Banking Code of Practice obligations for deceased estates.
The Committee found that between July 2019 and September 2023, ANZ breached its Code obligations by failing to stop or refund fees charged to deceased estates after customers' deaths. ANZ further breached its Code obligations by not responding to instructions or requests for information from representatives of deceased estates within the required 14 days.
Despite identifying the first issues in early 2022, ANZ took nearly two years to start its customer remediation program, which not expected to be finalised until the end of July 2024.
Chair of the BCCC, Ian Govey, said: "The remediation did not meet expectations. Once aware of the issues, ANZ did not act with sufficient urgency to remediate the affected customers. It should have done more to address this more quickly."
"Naming a bank is a sanction that we reserve for the most serious and systemic breaches.
"The decision to name ANZ for its non-compliance reflects the seriousness of its Code breaches," Govey said.
However, the BCCC also acknowledged that ANZ's remediation processes – now underway – have applied assumptions beneficial to customers, including reimbursing charges that may already have been refunded.
In response, ANZ acknowledged the BCCC’s comments on its sub-par management of deceased customers' estates.
“Where we have made a mistake and have charged fees in error, we review what has occurred and remediate the customer in full as soon as we can," said ANZ general manager customer service operations, Dan O’Neill.
He said that for most impacted customers, these processes have been completed.
"We have made 16 distinct improvements, with a further seven changes already in train."
ANZ stated the changes it has made so far include:
• Almost doubling the number of staff which manage deceased estates cases.
• Expanding the training for these specialist staff members, as well as branch staff, to ensure better support for customers and their representatives.
• Changing processes and technology systems to improve how these cases are managed, with further work being rolled out in coming months.