(Reuters) – The Commonwealth Bank of Australia failed to formally notify either of the country’s prudential regulators before shifting a million customers to new bank accounts, causing many to pay to access cash through branches, the Australian reported.
The report published on Wednesday said ‘Freedom of Information’ requests showed both the country’s corporate regulator, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), and the the prudential regulator, Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), have no record of any approach from CBA in 2024 over the issue.
The country’s largest bank told customers in early December it would shift more than one million Complete Access Account holders to Smart Access Accounts, closing off the legacy product which was previously its mainstay transaction banking product, according to the local media outlet.
A spokesperson for CBA said in an emailed response to Reuters that the bank “is in frequent dialogue with our regulators on a wide range of issues”.
An ASIC spokesperson told Reuters the regulatory body meets regularly with banks as part of their ongoing supervisory role and declined to comment further, while APRA declined to comment on the report.
(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru, Additional reporting by Sneha Kumar; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
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