Australia’s financial regulator has filed a lawsuit against HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) for allegedly failing to protect customers from scams.
The allegations, brought before the Federal Court by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), claim HSBC Australia failed to adequately prevent or detect unauthorised transactions and delayed investigations and account access restorations.
The bank reportedly received approximately 950 reports of unauthorised transactions between January 2020 and August 2024, resulting in customer losses of 23 million Australian dollars (£12 million).
ASIC highlighted that scammers often gained access to accounts by impersonating HSBC staff.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court alleged that HSBC’s failings were “widespread and systemic”.
According to ASIC, HSBC took an average of 145 days to investigate scam reports and 95 days to fully restore customer accounts.
One customer reportedly waited over 500 days for full access to be restored.
The regulator asserts these delays breached the ePayments Code and the bank's obligations under financial services and credit protection laws.
ASIC is pursuing declarations of contraventions, pecuniary penalties, and adverse publicity orders in response to the alleged breaches.