ANZ faces renewed scrutiny by ASIC over matters that are no longer the subject of cartel criminal proceedings.

On Friday, the Commonwealth DPP abandoned remaining criminal charges against two of the three investment banks and key executives involved in a A$3 billion institutional share placement for ANZ in August 2015, one that resulted in a shortfall of up to $790 million being taken up by three underwriters.

This detail wasn’t disclosed to the market by ANZ at the time.

While the ACCC and DPP were the first to take up the cudgels in June 2018, ASIC in September 2018 commenced civil proceedings against ANZ seeking a declaration of contravention of the Corporations Act, a pecuniary penalty and ancillary relief on the basis of an alleged contravention by ANZ of its continuous disclosure obligation under s 674(2) of the Corporations Act. 

In June 2019, ANZ succeeded in obtaining a stay order from the Federal Court of Australia.

The stay order remained effective only until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings.

On Friday, an ASIC spokesman confirmed to Banking Day that with the withdrawal of the criminal proceedings “the way is clear for ASIC to resume the civil case”.