Feb 25 (Reuters) - Australia's corporate regulator on Thursday filed a lawsuit against the country's No. 3 lender, National Australia Bank NAB.AX , alleging it charged customers fees for periodic payments for which it was not contractually entitled to do so.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) alleged that between Feb. 25, 2015 and Feb. 22, 2019, the bank charged fees for periodic payments more than 195,000 times, totaling A$365,454 ($291,449.57).
It also alleged that the bank had identified the error in charging both personal and business banking customers by October 2016, but did not notify customers and lodge a report with ASIC until July 2018.
NAB did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
"By charging the fees, or by notifying customers of the charging of each fee via a bank statement, NAB made false or misleading representations that it was contractually entitled to charge the fees when it was not," ASIC said in a statement.
NAB has faced multiple lawsuits since it was singled in a government-mandated inquiry into misconduct in the financial industry for allegedly charging customers "fees for no service". = 1.2539 Australian dollars)