Commonwealth Bank allegedly overcharges thousands of customers for more than 19 years

Australia’s corporate regulator, ASIC, has begun civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank, alleging it charged business customers fees that were not disclosed. The claims concern CommBiz, the bank’s business banking service, and alleged failures to correct the issue despite earlier complaints and internal warnings.

ASIC alleges about 42,000 CommBiz customers were overcharged roughly A$8.5 million between November 2020 and 31 May 2025, with the fee practice allegedly dating back around 19 years. CBA says it has stopped the fees and refunded more than A$26.4 million to about 93,000 current and former customers for conduct dating to December 2006; it says the median payment to affected CommBiz customers was about A$85 and the average about A$442, including interest. The bank apologised but said it would defend aspects of the case, explaining that changes to its terms did not accurately describe how a 25-cent fee plus GST was charged.