Westpac fined $113m after charging fees to deceased clients

Westpac has been ordered to pay $113 million in penalties after the Federal Court found it had made widespread failures across its banking, wealth management, insurance and superannuation businesses, including charging fees to 11,800 deceased customers.

The bank will remediate more than $80 million to customers following the Federal Court’s decision on Friday, following six separate civil penalty proceedings launched by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in November 2021.