Litigation funding company IMF Australia (ASX:QFX) has filed suit against ANZ (ASX:ANZ) in the first 12 class-action lawsuits against Australian banks over exception fees.
IMF has filed a class-action claim on behalf of 27,000 ANZ customers relating to more than $50 million in exception fees charged over the previous six years, claiming these fees were illegal.
ANZ said it would “vigorously defend” itself against the claim.
“We recognised that these fees were unpopular with customers. This is why we took action to simplify fees in line with our customers' expectations,” ANZ CEO Australia Philip Chronican said.
“[But] it's a big leap for a fee to go from being unpopular to being unlawful. ANZ will be defending this claim vigorously and we plan to hold the IMF accountable for the impact of its actions.
IMF said so far bank customers holding more than 213,000 accounts with claims over $250 million dollars have entered into litigation funding agreements with the company.
ANZ shares are today 0.04% higher at $23.810, while IMF shares are 0.37% higher at $1.350.
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