Speaking at the bank’s annual general meeting yesterday, Mr Narev said the Open Advice Review program, which “involved the review of more than 1 million customer files” from the past decade, resulted in the payment of nearly $35 million to the bank’s advice clients.
In June 2017, the bank released the final report from Promontory Financial Services (one of the independent bodies who oversaw the review program), which stated that “around 90 per cent” of cases had been reviewed, and $29 million had either “been offered or paid” to customers.
A spokesperson for the bank confirmed that figure, which was taken at 31 May 2017, has since grown to $35 million at 14 November 2017.
The Open Advice Review program was announced by Mr Narev on 3 July 2014 to identify and compensate clients of Commonwealth Financial Planning or Financial Wisdom who received poor financial advice between 1 September 2003 and 1 July 2012.
