Citibank has refunded $5m to about 230,000 credit card customers for failing to properly show fees charged on some foreign transactions.
According to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC), that the bank failed to properly disclose that credit card international transaction fees apply to Australian dollar transactions where the merchant uses an overseas-based bank or entity to process its transactions.
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The regulator stated that Citibank started charging international transaction fees for Australian dollar transactions in early 2016.
The Australian watchdog said the bank identified the impacted customers and repaid them with the amount of the fee charged as well as interest.
The refund was applied to Citibank-branded and white-labelled credit cards, including Virgin Money, Bank of Queensland and Suncorp Bank cards.
Additionally, the bank has updated its disclosure policy which clearly describes that even Australian dollar transactions will attract international transaction fees if the merchant uses a foreign bank or entity to process transactions.
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By GlobalDataCitibank will also repay $48,000 to 30,174 Virgin Money credit card customers for charging an incorrect international transaction fee, according to ASIC.
The Citibank refund follows a similar concern with Westpac's credit cards, when Westpac was ordered to refund $20m to nearly 820,000 customers in 2016.
ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell said: “Financial product issuers must take care to provide clear disclosure to help consumers understand all circumstances where fees will be charged.”
