Commonwealth Bank to move 1.5 million customers into fee-free accounts after ACCC ruling

Australian regulators tightened enforcement on bank fees: CBA will shift ~1.5m low-income customers into fee-free accounts and address alleged improper charges (A$270m over five years) with ~A$68m goodwill payments. The ruling applies across ~20 banks for five years, pressuring sector fee income and lifting compliance and remediation costs. Near-term, this is a headwind for Australian bank earnings sentiment, with limited cross-asset spillover.