Tens of 1000’s of Australians stand to share in $29.95 million in compensation from Westpac after a category motion settlement with the Huge 4 banks.
The motion included allegations former Westpac subsidiary BT Tremendous invested members’ superannuation funds by Westpac Life to realize charges for no service.
Legislation agency Slater and Gordon mentioned BT prioritized Westpac Life’s earnings over its responsibility to hunt one of the best returns for its members’ retirement financial savings, resulting in decrease returns for shoppers.
Westpac offered BT Tremendous to Mercer in Might.
“Superannuation members belief their funds with their retirement financial savings and place their religion in them to guard their future,” Slater and Gordon particular counsel Nathan Rapoport mentioned.
“We’re happy this settlement signifies that group members might be getting tens of millions of {dollars} of compensation.”
‘No admissions’ settlement
The settlement was reached on a “no admissions” foundation and BT and Westpac Life deny any legal responsibility.
A Westpac spokesperson confirmed the financial institution had agreed to settle the category motion, which associated to a former money funding possibility of BT Tremendous for Life.
The settlement nonetheless must be accredited by the Federal Court docket.
The category motion was filed in 2019 as a part of the Slater and Gordon “Get Your Tremendous Again Marketing campaign”, which got here within the wake of a banking royal fee that uncovered widespread issues within the monetary sector.
The settlement comes barely a month after Commonwealth Financial institution, ANZ and Westpac settled one other class motion with Slater and Gordon for $126 million over client credit score insurance coverage (CCI) offered by way of their insurance coverage subsidiaries.
The category motion alleged the three banks’ subsidiaries offered shoppers CCI they had been ineligible for and in some circumstances had not consented to purchasing.
NAB settled for $49.5 million over its alleged CCI points in 2019 and the entire big-four banks have since exited the life insurance coverage market.
Not one of the banks nor their subsidiaries formally admitted wrongdoing within the circumstances.
-AAP
