ANZ dismisses $300m legal settlement offer as a ‘cynical' attempt to influence law reform
ASB has already paid 73,000 customers $8m to rectify the disclosure mistakes it made.
The $600m offer comes as the Government proposes a law change that could make it harder for the customers (and the funders of the class action) to receive very large amounts in redress.
The Government wants to change the law to give the courts discretion to issue lenders fair penalties if they fail to give customers the correct information about their loans.
Under the existing law, lenders that made errors between 2015 and 2019 may have to refund customers all the interest and other fees they paid for the duration of the breach, regardless of how severe it was.
The proposed change is controversial because it applies to the past.
The Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Amendment Bill attempts to ensure the law pre-2019 aligns with the law post-2019.
Another contentious element of the bill, introduced by Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson, is that it specifically says it will apply to the ANZ/ASB case.
NZ First and Act have their reservations
While New Zealand First and Act supported the bill through its first reading in Parliament on May 20, neither party is particularly hot on it.
NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones said his party would take advice before deciding whether to support the bill being passed into law in its current state.
'I wouldn't want to jump to any conclusion, but it's a very, very bad constitutional practice to summarily change people's rights unless there is a compelling case,' Jones said.
Act leader David Seymour said his party supported the bill because it is a part of the Coalition Government.
However, he wrote to Simpson (after Act supported the bill through its first reading) to raise his concerns over it applying retrospectively and targeting a matter before the courts.
'Who knows, maybe Scott [Simpson] will change his mind in response to this,' Seymour said.
Parliament's Finance and Expenditure committee is considering public submissions on the bill.
The bill will then need to pass its second and third readings before being enacted.
Jenée Tibshraeny is the Herald's Wellington business editor, based in the parliamentary press gallery. She specialises in government and Reserve Bank policymaking, economics and banking.
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