The Commonwealth Bank has pleaded guilty to 87 criminal charges of "hawking" life insurance through unsolicited phone calls.

Key points: CommInsure will have to repay 30,000 customers a total of $12 million over the criminal marketing of its life insurance policies

CommInsure will have to repay 30,000 customers a total of $12 million over the criminal marketing of its life insurance policies CBA pleaded guilty to 87 charges of breaching the Corporations Act in the first criminal action dealt with by the courts since the banking royal commission

CBA pleaded guilty to 87 charges of breaching the Corporations Act in the first criminal action dealt with by the courts since the banking royal commission ASIC alleged CommInsure failed to give customers all the required information while cold-calling them with its sales pitch in 2014

The charges related to the CBA's aggressive use of unlawful phone marketing in 2014.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission alleged that between October and December 2014, CBA's CommInsure business enlisted the telemarketing firm Aegon Insights, to sell its Simple Life policies over the phone.

"CommInsure provided customer contact details to Aegon from CBA's existing customer database," ASIC said.

"The CBA customers had not requested to be contacted for the sale of Simple Life by CommInsure, or persons on CommInsure's behalf, or to receive marketing information from CommInsure."

While not directly related to evidence raised at the banking royal commission, it is understood to be the first criminal case brought against a financial institution since the commission's findings were handed down earlier this year.

Having only been charged last month, CBA quickly decided not to defend the case.

The bank will be sentenced at a later date and faces potential fines of around $1.8 million.

CommInsure will be required to refund around 30,000 customers a total of $12 million over the illegal sales campaign.

The Federal Government has promised to act on the royal commission's recommendation that the hawking of superannuation and insurance products be banned.

CommInsure scandal still lingers

However, CBA may not have heard the last from ASIC about the scandal-plagued CommInsure business.

The royal commission was told CommInsure routinely ignored the medical advice of its own employed doctors, preferring instead to use outdated medical definitions which led to the rejection of numerous claims by policyholders who had suffered heart attacks.

The practice was the subject of a joint investigation by the ABC's Four Corners and Fairfax in 2016.

During the royal commission, counsel assisting Rowena Orr said it was open to find that CommInsure may have committed misconduct in the claims handling process.

CBA sold CommInsure to Hong Kong-listed AIA Group for $3.8 billion in 2017.