{"id":157756,"date":"2025-11-28T09:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/157756\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T09:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:11:07","slug":"westpac-fined-3-64m-for-breaching-lender-responsibility-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/157756\/","title":{"rendered":"Westpac fined $3.64m for breaching lender responsibility rules"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe pecuniary penalty sends a strong message not only to Westpac but to the consumer credit industry that continued failings to adequately invest in robust systems and compliance practices will not be tolerated and there are serious consequences for not complying with the Act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">In her judgment, Justice Anderson found Westpac\u2019s failures related to systems that were \u201cset up in a way that was foreseeably deficient\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cMultiple steps could have been taken to prevent the harm, including changes to the systems, adequate staff training, and mechanisms to identify and respond where disclosure was not provided, and discounts were not applied,\u201d she found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">Bartlett said the result followed the commission\u2019s investigation into the conduct, which was self-reported by Westpac.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAs with any self-report, our ability to progress an investigation is contingent on receiving complete and timely information to progress the investigation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">Westpac agreed to admit to the breaches before the commission filing proceedings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">The penalty reflected the fact that Westpac has remediated up to 11,398 impacted borrowers a total of $2.67m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">Under the CCCFA, lenders must disclose specific key information to borrowers and, in some cases, guarantors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">Westpac NZ said it was pleased to have resolved the matter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">The bank self-reported to the Commerce Commission historical issues with some Westpac products in early 2022.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe worked promptly to close the identified compliance gaps, and we are in the final stages of completing remediation for customers as applicable,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWestpac co-operated fully with the Commerce Commission\u2019s investigation and we are pleased to have resolved the matter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">Last month, the commission also issued a warning to Westpac NZ about a potential breach of the Fair Trading Act 1986.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">That investigation considered whether the bank\u2019s failure to apply the benefits of its \u2018Work Hard Play Hard\u2019 promotional campaign to its customers\u2019 credit card accounts breached the Fair Trading Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"CHLSLkBXpVqCICiH\" style=\"display:none\">Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets, the primary sector and energy. He joined the Herald in 2011.<\/p>\n<p>Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/my-account\/profile\/newsletters\/?from=cmp\">Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe pecuniary penalty sends a strong message not only to Westpac but to the consumer credit industry that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[104283,104281,1558,6120,138,1349,19631,2082,2959,16398,1132,111,139,69,104282,104284,83752,6122,17239,80],"class_list":["post-157756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-104283","tag-364m","tag-been","tag-breaching","tag-business","tag-court","tag-fined","tag-for","tag-high","tag-lender","tag-million","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-penalised","tag-principles","tag-responsibility","tag-rules","tag-westpac","tag-zealand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}