One of Australia’s largest banks, ANZ, has agreed to pay a record 240 million Australian dollars ($160 million) in penalties for corporate misconduct affecting nearly 65,000 customers and the federal government.

ANZ, also known as Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said they will ask a federal court to approve the fines, covering four separate prosecutions.

If approved, the penalties would set a new record for a single entity under ASIC for corporate misconduct. The previous record was AU$113 million ($75 million) imposed on Westpac in 2022 for widespread compliance failures.

“The penalties, including a record fine for unconscionable conduct, reflect the seriousness and number of law breaches, the vulnerable position ANZ put its customers in, and the repeated failure to fix critical issues,” said Joe Longo, ASIC chair.

According to ASIC, ANZ failed to refund charges to thousands of deceased customers and ignored hundreds of customer hardship notices, in some cases for over two years. The bank also made false or misleading statements about savings interest rates and did not pay the promised rates to tens of thousands of customers. Additionally, ANZ acted unconscionably with the Australian government while managing AU$14 billion ($9.3 billion) in bonds over two years.

ANZ CEO Nuno Matos, who joined the bank in May, said he expects “measurable improvements” to ensure better customer care. “The failings outlined are simply not good enough and they reinforce the case for change,” Matos said.