The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has commenced civil penalty proceedings against Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), alleging tens of thousands of CommBiz business customers, many of them small businesses, were overcharged millions of dollars in fees they were never told about.

ASIC alleges CBA’s CommBiz terms and conditions were misleading because they failed to clearly and accurately disclose all the fees business customers would be charged for Direct Debit and Direct Credit payments.

Business customers were told they would be charged a fee for a payment to or from a third-party account.

However, ASIC alleges CBA also charged an additional, undisclosed fee for the corresponding movement of money into or out of the customer’s CommBiz account.

For example, a small business paying the fortnightly wages of 10 employees from two CommBiz accounts was charged 12 fees: 10 for the payments to its employees and another two undisclosed fees for the money being withdrawn from its own accounts.

ASIC alleges that between November 2020 and 31 May 2025, approximately 42,000 CommBiz customers were overcharged approximately $8.5 million in fees.

ASIC Commissioner Alan Kirkland said the alleged conduct represented a failure by Australia’s biggest bank to get the basics right over many years.

ASIC alleges business customers were overcharged for around 19 years, with the allegedly misleading terms and conditions in place from the launch of CommBiz in 2006.

The regulator further alleges CBA received customer complaints about the issue from at least 2015, while a 2016 internal audit identified overcharging of Direct Debit fees and required corrective action.

ASIC also alleges governance failings at CBA meant the alleged misleading statements were not identified and corrected, and that CBA allegedly failed to act efficiently, honestly and fairly.

ASIC is seeking declarations, pecuniary penalties, adverse publicity orders, ancillary orders and costs.

The Court has not yet listed the matter for a case management hearing.

CBA temporarily ceased charging the relevant fees in June 2025 and amended the CommBiz Terms in August 2025, and since February 2026 has waived the ‘contra leg’ fees for processing Direct Debits and Direct Credits.

CBA has completed a remediation program covering the period from 1 December 2006 to present for past and current CommBiz customers which has resulted in more than $26.4 million in remediation payments to approximately 93,000 CommBiz customers, including around 40,000 small businesses.

If you believe you have been affected by this conduct, and you have not been remediated, please contact CBA.