Help & support
Financial Wisdom Limited1 is a wholly-owned, non-guaranteed subsidiary of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).2 Financial Wisdom Limited previously authorised financial advisers and practices to provide financial advice under its Australian Financial Services Licence. In July 2020, Financial Wisdom stopped providing licensee services and no longer has any financial advisers authorised to provide financial advice under its licence.
Quality of Advice remediation program
Our Quality of Advice Remediation program provides a review and remediation service to the former financial advice divisions of the Commonwealth Bank Group. When advice provided by an adviser is deemed to be inappropriate, or we identify other potential errors or concerns with the services provided, we endeavour to return impacted customers to the financial position they would have been in had they received appropriate advice at the time or had the errors or concerns not occurred.
During our assessment we consider information available to us from a range of sources, including:
We do not engage the adviser in relation to our assessment of a customer’s financial advice.
In some cases, we may not have the advice documentation we were looking for. In these circumstances we complete our assessment based on limited information and may have made a number of assumptions. Our letter to the customer will request they send us any of the above documentation which provides more detail about the advice they may have received.
If after a further review of such material we find evidence that the customer did not receive appropriate advice, that there was an error in relation to that advice, or there were other concerns with the services provided, they may be eligible to receive compensation for any financial loss they suffered as a result.
Our goal is to provide any remediation to customers as soon as possible.
If you’d like more information about the Quality of Advice remediation program, please get in touch with us using the below details:
Fees For No Service (FFNS) remediation program
We’ve reviewed records of financial advice customers who paid ongoing advice service fees for ongoing personal advice services between 1 July 2008 to 7 July 2020, to determine if there is evidence that those services were provided. Where we couldn’t find the evidence we were looking for, or it was impractical to look for evidence, we’re refunding the fees.
We also know that some customers’ Fee Disclosure Statements (FDS) contained incorrect information about the ongoing advice service fees they paid, and some customers may not have received their FDS or Renewal Notices. In communicating with customers, we’re notifying them of these issues and ensuring they have accurate information about the fees they paid.
For more information about the FFNS remediation program, download our Frequently Asked Questions or contact us using the below details:
Dial-up Remuneration program
We’ve reviewed records of financial advice customers who may have had ongoing additional adviser remuneration (dial-up remuneration) deducted from their account between 1 July 2008 to 7 July 2020, to determine whether services were promised but not provided in exchange for that dial-up remuneration. Where we couldn’t find the evidence of promised services being provided, or it was impractical to look for evidence, we’re refunding the dial-up remuneration we believe was paid.
We understand that correct FDSs and Renewal Notices may not have been given, and dial-up remuneration wasn’t required always included in them. To ensure customers have this information, we’re disclosing all the dial-up remuneration paid.
For more information about the dial-up remuneration remediation, download our Frequently Asked Questions or contact us using the below details:
Important information about our FFNS and Dial-Up Remuneration programs
If you’ve received communication from CBA about the ongoing advice service fees paid or dial-up remuneration deducted from multiple accounts or policies, you may have received numerous outcome letters. If you’d like a single letter restating all the ongoing advice service fees you paid, or all the dial-up remuneration deducted, please contact us using the relevant details above.
Please also contact us if you’ve been sent a Bank Account Nomination Form and are having issues completing or returning it so we can discuss other payment options.
CBA is committed to ensuring that customers receive any payment that CBA has assessed as payable as a result of CBA’s financial advice remediation programs. Customers with any unpaid remediation sums can refer to the Remediation Unpaid Monies page which provides further information about accessing unpaid remediation.
If you have any concerns that we can’t resolve, you can also contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA), an external dispute resolution service.
Phone: 1800 931 678
Email: info@afca.org.au
Mail: AFCA, GPO Box 3, Melbourne VIC 3001
Web: www.afca.org.au
1Financial Wisdom Limited ABN 70 006 646 108 AFSL 231138
2Commonwealth Bank of Australia ABN 48 123 123 124
