‘I had never seen anything like this’: Inside ANZ’s car loan business
ANZ’s former car loan business Esanda was riddled with misconduct, the royal commission has heard, including dealers pumping up interest rates to get commissions and brokers swapping customer’s financial information with that of their guarantor to get loan approvals.
ANZ’s breaches of responsible lending requirements in its car finance business also ran to an alleged fraud involving a group of three dealers who supplied Esanda with fake payslips and bank statements to secure customer loans, the commission was told on Thursday.
The bank this year admitted to 24 breaches of responsible lending laws within its car loan business and paid a $5 million fine. ANZ sold its $8.2 billion Esanda Dealer Finance portfolio in October 2015 to Macquarie Group. It told the market at the time the sale was due to the business no longer being core and following new global capital requirements to ensure financial stability of the world’s banks.
Last week, ANZ announced it was suspending its consumer car finance products while it reviewed the business. Counsel assisting the royal commission, Albert Dinelli, pressed the bank’s general manager of small business banking, Guy Mendelson, about the reason for the sale.