The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price rose more than 2%, despite news of ASIC proceedings against the ASX bank share.
ASIC proceedings against CBA
In an ASX announcement, Commonwealth Bank acknowledged that civil proceedings have been filed by ASIC in the Federal Court of Australia.
CBA said ASIC is alleging contraventions of one of the misleading or deceptive conduct provisions of the ASIC Act 2001 and a breach of one of the general obligations owed by financial services licensees under the Corporations Act 2001.
The bank said the proceedings relate to how CBA had disclosed one component of a fee charged to customers for direct credits and direct debts using CommBiz, Commonwealth Bank’s online business banking platform.
CBA said that while it charged the fee consistently over time, the issue arose from changes made to terms and conditions intended to simplify them, which did not accurately reflect the fee charging method. The fee was $0.25 (plus GST).
The ASX bank share said it self-identified this matter, reported it to ASIC and has cooperated fully with ASIC throughout its investigation.
CBA also said that it has taken additional rectification steps to reduce the risk of similar incidents.
Commonwealth Bank has completed remediation of impacted CommBiz customers, being those who were charged the relevant component of the direct credit and direct debit fees since December 2006. These payments were provided for in the FY26 result.
As of 20 October 2026, the median payment was made to affected CommBiz customers was approximately $85, while the mean payment was approximately $442, including interest.
More than $26.4 million has been paid in remediation payments to approximately 93,000 CommBiz customers, including around 40,000 small businesses.
ASIC described this as an “additional, undisclosed fee for the corresponding movement of money into or out of the customer’s CommBiz account.”
The regulator alleges that between November 2020 and 31 May 2025, approximately 42,000 CommBiz customers were overcharged approximately $8.5 million in fees.
ASIC is seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties, adverse publicity orders, ancillary orders and costs.
Commonwealth Bank’s defence
The ASX bank share said that while it accepts it did not get things right for CommBiz customers and apologises to all customers impacted, it doesn’t accept the way that some allegations have been “formulated”.
It’s going to defend certain aspects of the claim, “or otherwise continue to engage with ASIC to efficiently resolve the proceedings”.
CBA noted that in its FY26 result, it said there are a range of ongoing matters where regulators or other bodies are reviewing or investigating whether a group member has breached legal, regulatory or other obligations.
It seems to be a common occurrence over the past decade that the major ASX bank shares are under the regulator microscope, which can make it harder to value the CBA share price when issues like this can pop up.
But, it doesn’t seem very attractive considering its FY27 first-quarter registered no earnings growth compared to the second half of FY26. I’d look at other ASX dividend shares instead.
