Fed Court approves CBA’s BBSW settlement

The Federal Court has approved the Commonwealth Bank’s (CBA’s) $25 million settlement with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) regarding the trading of bank bills in connection with the Bank Bill Swap Rate (BBSW).

The settlement would see CBA pay $5 million in penalties, $15 million to a financial consumer protection fund and $5 million toward ASIC’s costs of the litigation and its investigation.

The bank had also entered an enforceable undertaking with the regulator, under which an independent expert would review the control, policies, training and monitoring in place for the BBSW business.

ASIC and CBA came to the settlement agreement last month.

“As part of the in-principle settlement, CBA will acknowledge that, in the course of trading on the BBSW market in Australia on five occasions between February and June 2012, CBA attempted to engage in unconscionable conduct in breach of the ASIC Act,” the bank said at that time.

“CBA will also acknowledge it did not have adequate policies and systems in place to monitor the trading and communications of its staff in order to prevent that conduct from occurring.”

The regulator originally alleged that CBA’s trading affected the BBSW on six occasions in 2012.