BOQ ordered to disclose Storm documents
The Bank of Queensland has been ordered by the Queensland Supreme Court to disclose documents from two of its Townsville branches that are at the centre of a court case relating to Storm Financial.
The documents, including credit risk reviews, compliance checks, audit reports and operational risk reports, relate to the bank’s own reviews of lending practices at the Kirwan and North Ward branches in the lead up to the collapse of Storm.
Law firm Slater and Gordon said both branches were managed at different times by Mathew Buchanan. The firm added that the bank had previously refused to disclose the documents and claimed they were irrelevant.
Ben Hardwick from Slater and Gordon said the documents could reveal how much the bank knew about the Storm investment model and what its advisers were telling clients, as well as the bank’s compliance with its own lending procedures.
The documents could also form part of a case against the bank being run by the firm on behalf of Helen Rubin which was filed in the Queensland Supreme Court last August, in which Rubin alleges the bank engaged in deceptive or misleading conduct relating to Storm investments, Hardwick said.
“This is an important development in the case that opens a window into what the bank was thinking and its operation during a time when it seemed to be throwing money at anyone who walked in the door and mentioned Storm,” Hardwick said.
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