CBA explains why it outsourced remediation program
The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has used its annual general meeting (AGM) to stress the “vigour” with which it approached its recently-launched advice remediation program, admitting it responded far too slowly to consumer concerns at first.
In an address to shareholders, CBA chairman David Turner noted “the additional public scrutiny” the bank has received in the last 12 months, but said the bank did its utmost to right its wrongs over the period.
“In the past 12 months, it became clear that a number of stakeholders believed we had not done enough.”
“I believe we have acted with integrity, with determination and given the complexity of the process, we’ve acted with vigour,” he said.
“We are very sorry indeed that some customers received poor advice and we know that saying sorry is not enough and action is required.”
He said the key tenet of the Open Advice Review Program is external mediators and experts, which ensure “the bank will not be the arbiter of what is just”.
CBA chief executive, Ian Narev, said while the bank “set out to do the right thing” as soon as problems with its planning businesses were revealed, it was “too slow to listen to views that more needed to be done”.
Recommended for you
Digital advice tools are on the rise, but licensees will need to ensure they still meet adviser obligations or potentially risk a class action if clients lose money from a rogue algorithm.
Shaw and Partners has merged with Sydney wealth manager Kennedy Partners Wealth, while Ord Minnett has hired a private wealth adviser from Morgan Stanley.
Australian investors are more confident than their APAC peers in reaching their financial goals and are targeting annual gains of more than 10 per cent, according to Fidelity International.
Zenith Investment Partners has lost its head of portfolio solutions Steven Tang after 17 years with the firm, the latest in a series of senior exits from the research house.
