Banks to refund extra $60m after ASIC report flagged excessive fees

10:16am on 29 July 2025

The news: Banks will refund $60 million in fees to low-income customers following the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s (ASIC) latest bank-fee review titled ‘Better and Beyond’.

The numbers: More than $93 million in refunds will be paid to 920,000 customers and more than a million low-income customers will be moved from high-fee to low-fee accounts.

This includes more than $33 million which has already been refunded to 150,000 customers as well as 200,000 customer account moves following the release of the ‘Better Banking’ report in July 2024, which covered Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and Bendigo Bank.

Westpac, ANZ, and Bendigo Bank, in addition to several others, have committed a further $60 million to be paid to 770,000 customers.

An additional seven banks have improved their processes for moving customers to low-fee accounts while an additional nine banks removed barriers to accessing low-fee accounts.

Banks have also moved a further 820,000 customers to low-fee accounts.

The context: ASIC’s ‘Better and Beyond’ report covered 21 banks, including the four banks initially involved in the ‘Better Banking’ report. Among the banks included in the latest review are Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ and NAB.

International banks including ING, Bank of China and Rabobank were also included.

It aimed to provide an update on the banking sector’s progress on addressing fees to low-income customers, those receiving government concession payments like those from Centrelink.

What they said: “It should not take an ASIC review to force $93 million in refunds or make banks assess their processes to ensure the trust and expectations placed in them are justified,” ASIC chair Joe Longo said.

“Banks need to truly hear the messages in this report—read it, review it, and ask themselves some difficult questions about what led to this situation.”

The sources: ASIC media release, ASIC report 811