A landmark ruling that credit card late payment fees charged by ANZ were illegal has been overturned on appeal in the full Federal Court.

The court said on Wednesday that it would reverse last year's ruling that late payment fees were an illegal penalty. The original ruling had threatened to cost the big banks tens of millions of dollars,

The bank's shares were placed in a trading halt on Thursday when it announced the capital raising. Credit:Louie Douvis

The decision could come as a blow to a multimillion-dollar class action running against several major banks over fees.

But the class action's principal financial backer IMF Bentham Australia said it was likely to seek leave to appeal to the High Court.