Court confirms BOQ Storm settlement

The Federal Court yesterday approved the settlement agreed between Bank of Queensland and ASIC, that will see the bank pay A$17 million in compensation to former clients of Storm Financial.

Bank of Queensland in September outlined an agreement to settle proceedings brought against it by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and a class action on behalf of borrowers advised by Storm Financial.

BOQ will make total payments of $19.7 million.

The ASIC action dates back to 2010 and the class action commenced in 2012.

Commonwealth Bank, which settled with ASIC in 2012, will pay around $136 million to borrowers advised by Storm. Macquarie Bank, which settled earlier this year, will pay around $75 million to customers and total costs of $82.5 million.

In all three cases, ASIC alleged that Storm operated an unlawful managed investment scheme and that the banks were involved in the operation of the scheme.