The Financial Markets Authority has filed proceedings against eight firms for law breaches since 2018. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson
More banks and insurers could face court proceedings and possible penalties for misleading and overcharging customers.
The Financial Markets Authority has filed proceedings against eight firms for law breaches since it increased scrutiny of the sector in 2018.
On Monday, AA Insurance was hit with a $6.2m penalty - the largest yet - for failing to apply discounts and no claims bonuses.
Penalties have also been issued against insurers Cigna, AIA, the Medical Assurance Society and Vero; and banks, ANZ and Kiwibank; and total $17.46m.
FMA head of enforcement Margot Gatland said it was working on possible legal action against in several other cases.
But she said some companies were getting better at admitting they had treated customers unfairly.
"We are continuing to file similar types of proceedings. But what we are seeing is banks reporting issues to the FMA, and in some cases working very cooperatively with the FMA through investigations.
"But also most importantly, I think for customers, [companies are] undertaking extensive system fixes throughout their businesses, which should hopefully identify some of the issues that have caused these problems in the first place and ultimately hopefully provide better outcomes for customers."
She said the banks and insurers that have been through the courts have improved their systems to prevent further breaches.
"That's of course very important to the FMA, that we are seeing that remedial work through the systems and processes, not just in financial terms to customers, but through the businesses so that they've got more robust systems, processes and controls in the future to try to prevent these harms happening to customers."
Gatland said since 2018, about $250m has been paid out in remediation to customers.
"The matters that have gone to court and taken by the FMA represent a small proportion of that overall remediation because we're only taking what we deem to be the most serious breaches and the harm to customers on a larger scale. But the overall remediation following the conduct and culture reviews has been pretty significant."
Tower Insurance is currently facing proceedings brought by the FMA in the high court for failing to apply multi policy discounts resulting in $9.5m in overcharges.