Kiwibank fined $1.5 million for breaching Fair Trading Act

Kiwibank has pleaded guilty to systemic breaches of the Fair Trading Act in Auckland District Court, resulting in a $1.5 million fine from the Commerce Commission. The commission prosecuted Kiwibank for 21 charges under the act for making misleading representations to its customers about its services, which the bank didn’t provide on the stated and agreed terms.

The bank’s failure to disclose the services it provided led to 35,000 customers being overcharged a total amount of $6.8m in fees and interest rates related to home loans , credit cards and overdrafts. Commerce Commission deputy chair Anne Callinan said that Kiwibank’s offending likely dated back to the bank’s inception in 2002.



“There were long-standing flaws in Kiwibank’s systems and processes that led to these breaches,” Callinan said..