Colonial First State

In 2020, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) commenced legal proceedings against Commonwealth Bank and CFS in relation to alleged conflicted remuneration of $22 million paid by CFS to Commonwealth Bank for the distribution of a super product issued by CFS. In 2022, the Federal Court of Australia dismissed the case and in 2023 dismissed an appeal by ASIC.^[10]

In 2021, the Federal Court of Australia fined CFS $20 million for misleading superannuation members, resulting in CFS paying $67 million to remediate losses to 5,815 members. The court found that:

• CFS had told its members that legislative changes required CFS to contact them to obtain an investment direction to stay in the FirstChoice Fund when that was not the case
• CFS failed to tell members that if Colonial did not receive an investment direction from the member, it was required to transfer the member's superannuation contributions into a MySuper product.^[11]

In 2022, CFS settled a $56.3 million class action lawsuit with Maurice Blackburn for allegedly failing to transfer beneficiaries’ accrued default amounts to a MySuper as soon as reasonably practicable; however, the settlement came with no admission of liability or wrongdoing by CFS.^[12]

In 2023, CFS settled a $100 million class action lawsuit with Slater & Gordon for allegedly raising fees on superannuation members to fund ongoing commissions to financial advisers; however, the settlement came with no admission of liability or wrongdoing by CFS.^[13]

• Company website