Login
ISCOVER
It has been revealed that 46,000 Bank of Queensland (BOQ) customers have been impacted by a decade-long series of rate calculation errors, costing the lender $58 million in refunds and remediation.
While the initial $12 million error was self-reported to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) by BOQ last year, which was caused by a failure to link mortgage offset accounts to eligible home loan accounts, BOQ uncovered additional errors last month.
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Looking for more benefits? Become a Premium Member.
It was originally reported that just 6,000 customers were to be affected by the blunder. However, ASIC revealed yesterday that the number was approximately 40,000 more than previously anticipated.
From the findings, BOQ agreed to expand the scope of the review into its compliance procedure as well as help rectify the losses.
BOQ has also agreed to refund an additional $34.5 million and pay another $11.5 million to fix these additional errors, taking the overall costs including refunds and remediation to $58 million.
“We want to make sure the expert’s review leaves no stone unturned and all customers are appropriately compensated,” said ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell.
“The review will also ensure that any necessary compliance system improvements are made to minimise the occurrence of similar errors in future.”
While BOQ rejected the third party distribution channel in 2004, after re-entering the broker channel earlier this year, the lender announced an impressive turnaround last week with financial year 2013 profits sitting at $250 million.
These results came after a $17.1 million loss the year before – the first loss for an Australian bank in 20 years.
