Approximately 20,000 Australian customers have been refunded over A$1.4 million by Allianz Australia Insurance Limited and Allianz Australia Life Insurance Limited.

Allianz notified the Australian Securities and Investments Commission of two breaches of financial services law in 2013 and apprised it of its intention to undertake remedial action, which led to the refunds.

Allianz advised that it had failed to refund stamp duty amounts owed to customers with consumer credit insurance policies. The policies were arranged by four of Allianz's financial institution agents and affected policies issued since approximately 2003.

The second breach involved the overcharging of 2,591 customers who paid their insurance premium by monthly instalments. Since 2001, some customers had continued to be charged higher instalments by Allianz, despite having reduced their level of cover which resulted in a lower premium payable.

Allianz has implemented and will soon finalise a process to refund the affected policy holders. An interest payment has been included in the refund amount.