Commonwealth Bank of Australia boss Ian Narev says his bank and its New Zealand subsidiary ASB will vigorously defend accusations of unfair and illegal default fees levelled by a legal consortium.
Narev, a Kiwi who took over the top job at CBA in December 2011 from New Zealander Sir Ralph Norris, was in Auckland yesterday to speak to business leaders at a transtasman lunch held at the SkyCity convention centre.
He said the bank was prepared to put right mistakes made in the past if it felt there was wrong-doing, but there were also cases where people who were opportunistic took aim at big corporates.
"We will be prepared to defend this pretty vigorously."
ASB, which last year made a record profit, is just one of a number of banks in the sights of Auckland barrister Andrew Hooker and Australian law firm Slater & Gordon, which on Monday announced they would take a billion-dollar case against the banks going back six years.