National Australia Bank (NAB) acknowledges the $57.5 million penalty imposed today by the Federal Court in proceedings brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) against NULIS Nominees (Australia) Limited (NULIS) and MLC Nominees Pty Ltd (MLCN).

The Federal Court proceedings commenced in September 2018 related to the charging of Plan Service Fees to MLC MasterKey Business and Personal Super fund members between 2012 and 2018. In resolving the proceeding the Trustees admitted to certain conduct that was misleading or deceptive and false or misleading representations, as well as consequential breaches of the ASIC Act and the Corporations Act.

NAB Group Executive, Legal and Commercial Services, Sharon Cook, said: “With this legal matter resolved and important lessons learned, we are now moving forward and are focused on serving our customers well.

“Customers should never have been charged for a service that was not received, and NULIS and MLCN should have made it clearer that customers could switch off the Plan Service Fee.

“NULIS and MLCN stopped charging Plan Service Fees by November 2018. Members from whom the fee was deducted have been fully compensated, including being paid interest. A total of $117 million was paid to members and payments were made by May 2019,” Ms Cook said.