In a statement, ASIC said it had filed charges against ME Bank on 25 May.
“These charges relate to alleged contraventions of sections 12DB(1)(g) and 12GB(1) of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth) and sections 64(1) and 65(1) of the National Credit Code (Cth), between 2 September 2016 and 3 September 2018,” ASIC said.
The regulator said a court date had not yet been set for the matter, which was being prosecuted by the Commonwealth Department of Public Prosecutions following referral from ASIC.
ME Bank, previously owned by Industry Super Holdings, was recently acquired by Bank of Queensland. The bank also previously faced criticism from the regulators last year around its handling of customer redraw changes during the COVID crisis, which led to the resignation of its chief executive.
Responding to the charges, ME Bank said the matters they related to “were addressed in 2019”.
“These issues were reported by ME to ASIC in October 2018. Affected customers were remediated by June 2019,” the bank said.
“Remediation to affected customers was in the order of $105,000. ME confirms the matters identified in relation to the home loan customer communications have been addressed and are not ongoing.
“As these matters are before the Court, ME does not intend to comment further at this time.”
