Australia's corporate regulator secured almost $230 million in penalties in the last financial year, including against heavyweights NAB and Westpac.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair Joe Longo said the 2021/22 report covered a year of significant law reforms following on from the Financial Services Royal Commission.
"We have worked with industry to bed down significant reforms which offer consumers and investors greater protection from poor behaviour, through more rigorous accountability and obligations on providers of financial services," he said on Friday.
These included slapping Westpac with a $113 million fine for "widespread compliance failures" which occurred over the course of 13 years and affected more than 70,000 customers.
Among the failings, ASIC cited the bank and its subsidiaries charging over $10 million in advice fees to more than 11,000 deceased customers for financial advice services that were not provided.
Another big-four bank, National Australia Bank was ordered to pay an $18.5 million penalty for failures relating to misleading fee disclosure statements following ASIC investigations.
ASIC also extended its powers to the mining sector where in March 2022, it brought proceedings against giant Rio Tinto to pay a penalty of $750,000 for contravening its continuous disclosure obligations.
Its investigation found that between December 2012 and January 2013, Rio Tinto failed to disclose material information to the ASX, including that mining assets held by Rio Tinto Coal Mozambique were no longer economically viable.
The commission said it will focus on areas of increasing risk of consumer harm, including greenwashing claims and crypto investment scams.
