Tag Archives: oceania

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Watchdog sues ANZ for allegedly overstating account balances

ANZ Bank has been accused of charging some credit card customers thousands of dollars in fees and interest after allegedly misleading them about the balances in their accounts.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said in a statement today it was taking legal action against the bank in the Federal Court.

ASIC will allege that about 165,000 ANZ customers were charged cash advance fees and interest between 2016 and 2018 for withdrawing or transferring money from their credit card accounts based on an incorrect account balance.

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When making earlier branch closures, ANZ claimed more and more customers were moving online and did not need regular in-branch banking.

And the problems were still happening as the bank had so far failed to fix the problem, the financial watchdog claimed.

In response to the allegations, ANZ said it was considering the matters raised by ASIC and would not be providing further comment given the matter was now before the court.

ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said in the statement the bank had been "misleading" and "deceptive" in its conduct.

"We are concerned that, over a long period of time, ANZ overstated the available funds and balances on credit card accounts, and nonetheless charged fees and interest to customers who relied on this information when making withdrawals," Court said.

"This alleged misconduct is the result of system errors within ANZ and a lack of effort to comprehensively fix these issues. 

"We say that ANZ has been aware of the unlawful charging since at least 2018 and the problem is still occurring today."

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ANZ has so far paid out more than $10 million to customers who were affected up until 17 November 2018.

ASIC is seeking orders from the court that customers who have been wrongly charged since 2018 also be compensated.

The watchdog is also calling on the court to dish out pecuniary penalties.

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One dead, seven injured in Oklahoma festival shooting

Authorities said a 26-year-old man was in custody after one person was killed and seven people were injured in a shooting early on Sunday at an outdoor festival in eastern Oklahoma, where witnesses described frantic people running for cover amid gunfire.

An arrest warrant was issued for Skyler Buckner and he turned himself in to the Muskogee County sheriff's office Sunday afternoon, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

The bureau said that those shot at the Memorial Day event in Taft, located about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa, ranged in age from nine to 56.

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A 39-year-old woman was killed, OSBI said.

The injuries of those wounded were considered non-life-threatening.

OSBI had earlier said two juveniles were injured in the shooting but said on Sunday afternoon that only one juvenile was injured.

Witnesses said an argument preceded the gunfire just after midnight, the agency said.

“We heard a lot of shots and we thought it was firecrackers at first,” said Sylvia Wilson, an owner of Taft’s Boots Cafe, which was open at the time to serve a surge of visitors to the small town for the gathering.

“Then people start running and ducking. And we were yelling at everyone… ’Get down! Get down!” Wilson said to The Associated Press by telephone from the café on Sunday morning.

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About 1500 people attended the event in Taft, which usually has a population of just a few hundred people.

Members of the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office were in attendance and immediately began rendering aid, OSBI said.

“Bullets were literally flying everywhere,” Jasmayne Hill, who was working at a food truck during the event, told the Tulsa World.

Hill said she and Tiffany Walton, the owner of the food truck, dove to the truck's floor to avoid the bullets.

“We’re thinking we’re safe and the bullets are like going through the bottom of the food truck,” Hill said. “They didn’t hit us, thank God.”

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Neicy Bates and her husband were operating another food truck when the shots rang out.

She told the Tulsa World that most people “were just going to the ground trying to get out of the way.”

“People were just screaming. Some were trying to run away. There were cars leaving, trying not to hit each other," she said.

Walton, who lives in Taft, said for decades the town has held a multi-day festival over Memorial Day weekend.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said on Twitter that he was grateful for the OSBI's “swift response to assist local police.”

Wilson estimated her café is about 100 feet (30 metres) from where the shooting broke out.

She said law enforcement had been on the scene to help with security earlier and that officers reacted quickly to the shooting.

“We are upset,” Wilson said, adding: “But everything is getting back to normal… The danger has passed.”

Buckner was being held Sunday in Muskogee County jail.

Jail records did not have an attorney listed for him.