Lender conduct featured prominently in ASIC's strongest enforcement year on record, with the regulator securing $830 million in court-ordered civil penalties and driving $644 million back to Australians in the 2025–26 financial year.
Courts ordered $480 million in penalties between January and June alone, against a mix of banks, super trustees, and market participants including Westpac, HSBC, Macquarie Securities, and Mercer Super, on top of $350 million secured in the first half of the year, taking the annual total to $830 million.
The single largest case was a $300 million penalty against Union Standard International Group over "egregious" contracts-for-difference misconduct affecting retail investors.
Among the year's major cases was Westpac's $26 million penalty for widespread failures in responding to customer hardship requests — the third such penalty against a major bank in under a year, following $15.5 million against NAB and a $40 million hardship-related penalty against ANZ (part of a larger $250 million ruling) for comparable breaches.
A separate $33.5 million penalty was also ordered against credit provider Walker Stores (trading as Snaffle) over unlawful credit practices that overcharged consumers almost $20 million in excess interest.
Several remediation programs are now paying out those funds directly, including HSBC's, which has so far paid around $21.5 million in compensation over scam protection failures, with further payments expected before the end of July. Nearly $40 million has also been refunded to CFD investors following separate ASIC action.
In a media release, ASIC Chair Sarah Court (pictured) said the regulator was "pursuing cases that expose serious failures in systems, governance, and conduct, from scams and hardship failures to market infrastructure, superannuation, private credit, financial reporting, and digital assets."
ASIC also recorded 25 criminal convictions over the period, 21 of them custodial, including insider trading and superannuation fraud cases. Court said ASIC's approach was "not just about punishment," but about "detecting misconduct sooner, preventing harm where we can, and securing remediation for those affected."
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