ANZ Faces $125 Million Bill in Anz Class Action Lawsuit Outcome
ANZ class action lawsuit outcome: High Court Justice Geoffrey Venning ruled that ANZ must reimburse customers all the borrowing costs they paid during a breach period tied to a loan-calculator coding error. The decision puts the bank on the hook for as much as $125 million, depending on how the judgment is applied to the class action.
About 17,000 customers were affected after one of ANZ’s loan calculators charged the wrong amount of interest in the mid to late 2010s. ANZ had already reported the issue to the Commerce Commission and paid customers more than $35 million to fix the mistake, but the court still went further and ordered reimbursement of all borrowing costs paid during the breach.
Venning’s CCCFA ruling
Justice Venning found that some of ANZ’s lending breached the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act, or CCCFA, during the period when the calculator error was in play. The legal question was whether the bank had to repay only the incorrect interest or every borrowing cost charged across the breach period, and he sided with the customers.
Scott Russell, who represented the customers in the class action, said, “The next step in the proceeding will depend on a number of factors, including whether ANZ appeals.” He added, “This judgment is an important step in holding ANZ accountable under consumer protection legislation designed to ensure borrowers receive accurate information about their loans.”
ANZ weighs appeal risk
ANZ chief executive Antonia Watson said, “We opposed the claim because we felt strongly that the law was not intended to operate in the way the plaintiffs and the litigation funders suggested,” and said the bank maintained the consequences were disproportionate and not aligned with any actual harm caused. She also said, “As a result, all customers were left better off than they would have been if the issue had not occurred.”
The ruling lands while the Government is amending the version of the CCCFA that applied between 2015 and 2019, the same period that now sits behind the case. ASB was also captured by the same class action and agreed to a settlement of nearly $136 million in October without admitting any wrongdoing, leaving ANZ exposed to a potentially larger bill if it does not overturn the judgment.
17,000 customers and $125 million
17,000 customers were caught up in the calculator error, and the gap between the $35 million ANZ already paid and the $125 million it now estimates could be due shows how much more the class action could add. The company said it is considering the judgment and whether it will appeal the court’s decision, which now becomes the main lever for whether the reimbursement bill stays near the top of ANZ’s estimate.
For borrowers in the affected group, the court has moved the case from a repair exercise into a broader repayment fight over every borrowing cost charged during the breach period. If ANZ appeals, that process will determine how much of the $125 million estimate becomes real exposure.
