Senate Committee extends quizzing of CommFP
Both the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and Commonwealth Financial Planning (CommFP) have been taken to task by a Senate Committee for their handling of compensation arrangements for CommFP clients - something which has seen the committee delay its final report.
The Committee has also demanded further information on the issue.
The Senate Committee today issued an interim report in which it was directly critical of both CommFP and ASIC over an announcement made on 16 May declaring that there had been problems with the compensation arrangements entered into.
"The committee was well advanced in preparing this report, when on 16 May 2014, ASIC and the CBA advised the committee that there were inconsistencies in the way in which the compensation arrangements for CFP clients had been applied," the interim report said.
"The revelation suggested that, for some time, the CBA had not kept either the committee or ASIC fully informed about the compensation process for clients affected by serious misconduct with the CBA's businesses."
"The latest information that ASIC and the CBA provided to the committee in order to correct the record was sketchy and left many key questions unanswered," the interim report said. "They included the number of affected clients who did not receive correspondence from CFP and those who missed out on the offer of $5,000 to help them pay for an expert assessor to assist their claim."
"Concerned that it may still not have a correct understanding of what has happened, the committee has sought additional information and clarification from both ASIC and the bank on this matter of central importance to the committee's inquiry and report," it said.
The interim report said in light of these "surprise developments", the committee was of the view that it requires more time to assess the significance of the new evidence coming to light and the response it expects to receive from ASIC and the CBA.
For its part, the Commonwealth Bank has acknowledged the interim report and reinforced that it will be cooperating with providing the additional information.
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