A year after Commissioner Kenneth Hayne released his scathing report, companies in the financial services sector are still facing fresh class actions over conduct aired at the banking royal commission, and the pace has even picked up in recent months.
CBA subsidiary Avanteos Investments Limited has been hit with extra conditions on its superannuation licence by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority after it was revealed the investment management firm charged fees to thousands of deceased superannuation members.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s insurance division, CommInsure, has been fined $700,000 for breaching insurance hawking laws in Australia’s first post-Royal Commission criminal conviction, dodging a maximum fine of over $1.8 million through an early guilty plea and cooperation with ASIC.
Westpac has been hit with a lawsuit by AUSTRAC for its alleged “systemic” failure to comply with anti-money laundering and counter terrorism finance laws.
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s insurance division, CommInsure, has pleaded guilty to 87 criminal charges that it hawked life insurance products in unsolicited telephone calls, but wants credit for the early plea.
The National Australia Bank faces the prospect of “significant monetary penalties” after self-reporting a potentially large number of money laundering and counter terrorism financing breaches to AUSTRAC and its overseas counterparts.
Commonwealth Bank’s wealth management unit Colonial First State has been hit with a second class action in as many days, this one alleging it charged excesssive superannuation fees to fund commissions to financial advisers.
Commonwealth Bank subsidiary Colonial First State and former director Linda Elkins face a class action alleging the wealth management group breached its superannuation trustee duties by failing to promptly transfer $3.2 billion of default members’ funds to a lower-cost, high-performing MySuper product.
Insurance company Allianz Australia will need set aside an extra $250 million in capital until it strengthens its risk management, making it the fifth financial institution to be slapped with additional requirements by the prudential regulator.
Fitch Ratings has agreed to settle the last of the investor class actions in Australia flowing from the global financial crisis, a court heard Friday.