RAMS Financial Group has been hit with a $20 million fine after admitting widespread compliance failures in the way it arranged home loans.

The Federal Court has ordered the lender, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Australia's oldest bank Westpac, to pay the penalty, finding that it dealt with unlicensed referrers and failed to ensure customers were not disadvantaged by conflicts of interest.

The court also determined that RAMS representatives weren't properly supervised, leading to failures in creating and enforcing policies and procedures and investigating misconduct.

Safeguards around the efficient, honest and fair engagement of credit activities were also found lacking.

The multiple contraventions of the Australian Credit Act happened between June 2019 and April 2023.

Amid systemic mi

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