Westpac faces legal action over negligence and failure to respond to hardship requests

Australia's corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), is taking Westpac Banking Corp to court over allegations that the bank failed to respond to customers' financial hardship notices within the required time frame between 2015 and 2022. The regulator claims that a technology failure resulted in 229 Westpac customers not receiving a response on time. Westpac has apologized for the error and has contacted the affected customers, offering refunds, debt waivers, and payments for non-financial loss. ASIC is seeking penalties and adverse publicity orders against Westpac.