Catch up on this week's editions
Good morning. Microsoft's email system has stopped working for millions of people worldwide this morning, with Australian enterprise users waking to find Exchange Online won't load and Teams, SharePoint and Copilot potentially down as well.
The company traced the problem to servers unexpectedly going offline, straining what's left and causing connectivity errors across multiple regions - though it hasn't said which ones.
Microsoft is now restarting every affected server, redirecting traffic to healthy infrastructure and has paused all internal deployments while it tests a configuration fix, which is the IT equivalent of turning it off and on again at global scale.
All the headlines and more below...
CBA ALLEGEDLY OVERCHARGED 42,000 BUSINESSES $8.5M IN UNDISCLOSED BANKING FEES
ASIC is suing Commonwealth Bank for charging about 42,000 business customers fees that were never disclosed in the terms and conditions for its CommBiz online banking platform. The overcharging ran from November 2020 to May 2025, with the undisclosed fee 25 cents plus GST per transaction.
The regulator alleges CBA charged customers twice for the same payment: once for the transfer to or from a third party, which was disclosed. The second charge was for the corresponding movement of money into or out of the customer's own CommBiz account, which was not disclosed. ASIC claims the misleading terms have been in place since CommBiz launched in 2006. CBA received complaints in 2015 and identified the overcharging in an internal audit in 2016 but did nothing to fix it.
CBA says it self-reported the issue and started paying customers back. The median refund paid as of 20 October was $85; the mean was $442 including interest. The bank says the problem arose from changes made to simplify the terms and conditions, which did not accurately reflect how the fee was charged. It does not accept how some of the allegations have been formulated.
AUSTRALIAN NEWS
The ATO returned more than $1.1B in underpaid super to 900,000 Australians in the past year as tougher compliance and employer prompts sharply increased super guarantee charge disclosures. LINK
The major banks committed $29.4M in executive buyouts in the last financial year as intense poaching of finance and technology leaders drove record incentive replacement deals. AFR
The federal government released draft voluntary AI adoption guidelines for businesses to protect workers from automation-driven lay-offs by requiring early staff consultation and careful, outcome-focused implementation. LINK
Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller warned 90-day mortgage arrears could rise by up to 36% over the next year as five RBA rate rises and higher inflation squeeze households. LINK
NAB UNDERPAID 66,000 WORKERS $169M OVER 14 YEARS AFTER FAILING TO FIX ISSUES
National Australia Bank will repay 66,000 current and former staff after underpaying them over 14 years, with some owed more than $87,000 each. The bank first reported the problems to the Fair Work Ombudsman in 2019 but failed to fully fix them until this year.
The underpayments stemmed from NAB's failure to check it was paying staff the legal industry minimum, track hours correctly and apply entitlements including penalty rates. Fair Work inspectors examined 550,000 lines of payroll data to verify the breaches. The largest component was $37.9M in incorrect base pay for part-time staff, followed by $16.4M in faulty fortnightly pay calculations and $5.7M in insufficient superannuation for staff on parental leave.
NAB will pay a record $2M contrition payment to the regulator to settle the matter. The bank made $6.1B in profit last financial year. It has repaid $155M so far and said it will invest in improving HR and payroll systems, with the work checked by an external auditor.
THE INSIDE TRACK
ANZ announced a restructure at ANZ Worldline that is impacting sales and BDM roles. LINK
Bendigo Bank is shifting most operations jobs to GenPact with only 8 of about 15 finance teams retained, reduced roles, new lead engagement positions and likely mass redundancies with a run off date pushing to May. LINK
NAB is linking end of year ratings to redundancies by automatically placing anyone rated less than 3 into the next redundancy round and has set a target of 2000 unfairly rated staff for challenge support. LINK
Heard something at work? Redundancies, offshoring, an email that should not have gone out. Tell us what’s happening at your company.
COMPANY NEWS
Atlassian said internal experiments showed graduates using AI made decisions 19% more accurately than some senior managers, while AI-assisted sales calls reduced customer engagement and revenue. AFR
Westpac told a parliamentary inquiry it is lending to 30% fewer housing construction projects than up to 18 months ago as rising costs and slow approvals squeeze builders' margins. LINK
Qantas emerged as a creditor of department store David Jones after it entered voluntary administration, while their Frequent Flyer points-earning partnership remains in place but its future is unclear. LINK
Aristocrat Leisure reported a modest 2.1% rise in full-year profit and a 3.2% drop in revenue as it announced the retirement of its long-serving chief executive officer. LINK
Inghams downgraded its FY27 underlying earnings guidance as weaker Australian wholesale demand and excess supply pushed wholesale pricing down 8.3% while costs for feed, labour, fuel and freight rose. LINK
AUSCORP VAULT - ARE YOU UNDERPAID?
We’ve aggregated all our survey results from the last 6 years so we can put your salary next to people doing the same job at your level, so you’ll know where they sit against the market.
Most people don’t realise they’re underpaid unless they speak to a recruiter or they move companies.
It takes about 90 seconds and it's free. It's also anonymous and community-built so every salary opens up comparisons for more jobs.
CHART OF THE DAY
Widespread concern about data centres' use of resources
Americans are the most worried about data centres' resource use at 34%, well ahead of the 23% recorded in Germany.
ONE MORE SCROLL
Odd Pick: Ukrainian freediver Kateryna Sadurska just dived 90 metres without fins, deeper than any woman ever.
Editor’s Pick: The government has released a practical roadmap for businesses adopting AI at work.
Draft Pick: Kalyn Ponga won rugby league's Golden Boot despite playing just 150 minutes this tournament.
Doctor’s Pick: The people who only need four hours' sleep.
TRIVIA
What is the only food that never spoils?
Answer below
ANSWER
Honey
