TITLE: New Zealand's Financial Markets Authority Orders ASB Bank to Pay $2.1 Million for Fair Dealing Breaches BODY: On March 5, 2026, New Zealand's High Court imposed a final penalty of $2.1 million on ASB Bank Limited for fair dealing breaches affecting its insurance products and banking services. The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) brought proceedings against ASB for making false and misleading representations to customers and failing to correctly apply multi-policy discounts on ASB-branded insurance products and fee exemptions for eligible FastNet Business customers. The breaches resulted in more than 25,000 customers being refunded approximately $4.7 million by ASB. Justice O'Gorman's judgment emphasised that financial institutions must maintain adequate systems and processes, stating that penalties must create "a strong incentive" to prevent process or system failures. The judgment specifically noted that "manual processes without adequate quality assurance and proactive problem detection and escalation is unacceptable." FMA Head of Enforcement Margot Gatland stated that the penalty reflects the seriousness of ASB's systems failures, highlighting that customers are entitled to rely on their bank to apply discounts and fee exemptions accurately. Gatland noted that while the FMA acknowledges ASB's cooperation and self-reporting of the issues, the duration of the failings and delays in identifying and escalating them necessitated a strong regulatory response. ASB admitted to the contraventions under the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMCA). The FMA acknowledges that ASB carried out remediation following identification of the breaches. **Reference:** Financial Markets Authority Media Release MR No. 2026–07 (March 5, 2026)

ASB ordered to pay $2.1m after fair dealing breaches affecting over 25,000 customers | Financial Markets Authority

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