The Australia-headquartered bank has brought in a retired high court judge to handle a review panel helping victims of poor financial advice from the bank in the past.

Commonwealth Bank, the Australian-headquartered multi-national firm, has appointed a retired High Court judge in Australia to chair a programme helping clients who had received poor advice from the bank over almost nine years. His appointment takes effect immediately.
 
The bank has appointed Judge Ian Callinan, as chairman of the Independent Review Panel for its new Open Advice Review programme, according to a statement form the bank late last week.

The programme is open to customers who received “poor advice” at two units between 1 September 2003 and 1 July 2012. One report by malaymailonline said the bank has so far paid A$52 million ($48.9 million) to 1,100 clients but the bank does not expect further payouts to be "material".

In an earlier statement, the bank’s chief executive, Ian Narev, said: “At the centre of the matters which a recent Senate Committee reviewed, is the very disturbing fact that some people working for our Commonwealth Financial Planning (CFP) and Financial Wisdom (FWL) businesses breached that trust. They failed in their primary obligation – to act in the best interests of our customers. We know this is unacceptable and I unreservedly apologise to all customers affected. Poor advice provided by some of our advisors between 2003 and 2012 caused financial loss and distress and I am truly sorry for that.”

Callinan’s priorities were described as including giving input on appointments of senior experts to the Independent Review Panel and advising the chief executive, Ian Narev, over how to design the programme.

A veteran in the legal system, Callinan has 50 years experience in roles involving justice and equity for individuals, including a decade as a justice of the High Court in Australia. In January this year he was appointed as an ad hoc judge for the International Court of Justice.

“The Independent Review Panel will provide comfort to customers that if they disagree with the assessment, then independent and esteemed experts will determine the right outcome to which the Bank will be bound. Callinan will also have a broad mandate to provide advice to me about the fair and effective operation of the program,” Narev said.

Speaking of changes made to the affected business units, Narev has also said: “The way in which we have transformed our CFP and FWL businesses over the past three years shows our commitment to ensuring that the best interests of our customers are always our first and foremost consideration. This transformation brings CFP and FWL in line with our other businesses at the Commonwealth Bank.”