Macquarie admits ‘bonus’ savings rate failure, agrees to pay $14 million

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The corporate regulator said customers should not have to scrutinise every transaction and that Macquarie had failed to prevent confusion to customers.

Macquarie Bank will pay a $14 million penalty after admitting to failing to prevent confusion among new savings account customers about a “welcome rate” offer, acknowledging it did not respond to complaints in a timely manner.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said on Wednesday the bank, which faced the NSW Supreme Court, had admitted to contravening the Corporations Act and failed to take necessary steps to ensure statements about its “welcome rate” were clear and not likely to cause confusion to new customers.

Between December 1, 2021 and September 9, 2022, Macquarie had described its welcome rate on the Macquarie Savings Account as a “welcome variable rate” and a “bonus” which the commission alleged could lead customers to believe it was paid on top of the standard variable rate.

Instead, the welcome rate generally operated as a fixed rate that applied instead of – rather than in addition to – the standard rate during the four-month promotional period.

As interest rates increased during 2022, the initial margin between the welcome rate and the standard variable rate could narrow or disappear. If the standard rate rose above the welcome rate, the customer’s rate increased only to match the standard rate.

The commission and Macquarie jointly proposed the bank pay a $14 million penalty to the court, in addition to the $8.8 million in remediation initiated by Macquarie which has already been paid to nearly 40,000 customers.

Macquarie also admitted its advertising framework was not sufficiently rigorous to identify the risk that customers could misunderstand the offer. The commission said the bank lacked clear internal guidance about how the product operated and customer complaints did not prompt a “sufficiently timely correction.”

ASIC commissioner Alan Kirkland said customers should not have to scrutinise every transaction to check their bank has paid the correct interest or charged them correctly.

“This wasn’t just unclear wording,” he said.

مطلع المقال، مقتطف من The Sydney Morning Herald. لقراءة المقال كاملًا، افتحه على موقع الناشر.