'Concerned CBA' finalises advice compo
The final cost of the "Open Advice review Program" at Commonwealth Bank is likely to be in the order of A$23 million, with final offers now in the hands of affected customers.But hundreds of offers for compensation have yet to be accepted, or negotiated, by the customers, leaving the ultimate bill for the bank an unknown.The bill for this component of the bank's response to its diverse "conduct" problems is less than that required to compensate investors of the bank's better known rogue financial advisers. ASIC rode shotgun on that process.Promontory Financial, the firm hired by CBA to guide this review, yesterday said its final report on the program could be ready by the end of May.Now work on the case files and offers to the remaining batch of customers are at an end, bank staff diverted to the program have returned to their normal roles. Promontory CEO Jeff Carmichael provided a taste of some wider reflections on the whole process yesterday, with much more commentary promised for the final report."There's been a ground swell shift, in terms of concern for customers in a way not found in the Australian baking system for 15 years," he said."The whole advice area is under transformation … with customers as the focus."