- Commonwealth Bank is facing legal action over breaching anti-hawking regulations
- The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has launched proceedings against the bank’s life insurance branch CommInsure
- CommInsure is accused of 87 violations from sales in 2014
- Hawking laws prohibit unsolicited telephone sales of financial products
- Commonwealth Bank’s share price is down 0.32 per cent today, currently sitting at $77.09 apiece
Commonwealth Bank is facing legal action from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions.
The banking giant is accused of breaching anti-hawking regulations on 87 counts.
Proceedings are against Commonwealth’s life insurance branch, CommInsure.
CommInsure is accused of violating anti-hawking regulations between October 7 2014 and December 16 2014 by selling its Simple Life insurance products over the phone.
Under the Corporations Act 2001, unsolicited calls to sell financial products are illegal.
Commonwealth said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange today it ceased selling its insurance policies over the phone at the end of 2014.
The life insurance policies were sold through the telemarketing firm Aegon Insights Australia. According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, CommInsure provided the telemarketers with customer details from Commonwealth’s database.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of $21,250.
Commonwealth Bank’s share price is down 0.32 per cent today, currently sitting at $77.09 apiece, as of 11:46 am AEST.