Throughout your life there may be circumstances when you wish to grant access to an account or authorise someone to manage your financial affairs on your behalf. Alternatively, you may be helping a loved one who is no longer physically or legally capable of making their own financial decisions.
The reasons can be complex and varied, but may include:
Keep in mind that authorising access to your money and financial affairs increases your exposure to the risk of financial abuse and fraud. For more on financial abuse and the signs to look out for, as well as who to contact if you feel you’ve been a victim of financial abuse, please see the guides found in Tools & Support.
It’s important that you only give authority to someone you trust and who will look out for your best interests.
Make sure you seek advice when exploring an authority over your accounts or financial affairs as there are different options and considerations. You’ll need to understand what is right for you and your circumstances.
A third party authority gives another person or persons access to one or more of your bank accounts. It’s arranged directly by visiting a CommBank branch and allows the authorised person(s) to transact on your nominated bank accounts.
You can only authorise access to your accounts if you fully understand the nature and implication of the authority you’re giving.
A third party authority can be given to allow someone you trust to manage day-to-day banking transactions on your behalf such as:
There are some limitations and risks to consider when giving someone access to your accounts:
To give a third party authority access to your account, you’ll need to:
A power of attorney is a formal document where a person, known as the principal or donor, gives the legal authority to someone to look after their financial affairs. This authority ceases should the principal pass away.
You can only appoint an attorney if you fully understand what you’re getting into and are capable of making your own decisions.
There are two types of power of attorney:
A general power of attorney allows you to appoint one or more people (attorneys) to make legally binding and financial decisions on your behalf.
The authority will be revoked if you're no longer capable to make decisions, or you're no longer legally capable to manage your financial affairs.
A general power of attorney may be useful if you wish to put in place a temporary formal arrangement, for a specific purpose such as:
An enduring power of attorney allows you to appoint one or more people (attorneys) to make legally binding and financial decisions on your behalf. Your appointed attorney(s) can continue making financial decisions if you're no longer capable to make decisions, or you’re no longer legally capable to manage your financial affairs.
You can elect for an enduring power of attorney to only come into effect or begin after you lose decision-making capacity and you become legally incapable of making your own decisions.
An enduring power of attorney should be used to put a lasting formal arrangement in place, including:
If you don’t have an enduring power of attorney in place and you lose capacity to make and communicate decisions for yourself, the chance to appoint someone yourself no longer exists and a financial management order will be required.
There are some limitations and risks to consider with powers of attorney:
As an attorney, you're required to inform us of any changes in respect to the principal.
If, for example, the principal loses their capacity to make decisions, you'll need to provide us with written evidence of this from a medical practitioner. The principal will retain all account access, and will be able to revoke and cancel a power of attorney, until you provide us with such evidence.
You can lodge a power of attorney in branch. The establishment process will be easier if both the principal (account holder) attends the branch together with the attorney/s (person/s who are to gain access to the principal’s account/s). We can only provide account access to an attorney who has visited a Commbank branch and has been identified. We realise there may be situations where the principal is unable to attend a branch, and in such cases we may require additional paperwork based on individual circumstances.
An application for a financial management order (also known in some states and territories as an administration order) is usually made by someone with a genuine concern for the welfare of a person (known legally as a “protected person”) who is unable to manage their own financial affairs. In most cases this is a family member, friend, social worker or healthcare professional.
A financial manager is then appointed to manage the person’s finances. While a financial management order is in place, the protected person may have limited or no access to their own account.
Financial management orders are generally appointed by a tribunal. The appointed person:
Lodging a financial management order will automatically revoke and cancel any existing third party authority and power of attorney the account holder has previously authorised.
The financial management order must be brought into a branch. You may need to complete some additional paperwork while you’re in the branch.
Normally the appointed financial manager is setting up the financial management order on behalf of the account holder, so the account holder won’t need to attend the branch.
If there are multiple financial managers, it is best for everyone to come into the branch together. However, if this is not possible, we can only provide account access to a financial manager who has previously visited a Commbank branch and been identified.
The information provided here is general only – each state and territory has different applications for powers of attorney and financial management orders. There are a range of external support services available that can help you understand and make decisions in relation to authorities and managing your financial affairs in your state or territory.
This information is general guidance only. There are some other authorities available only in certain states (e.g. Victoria).
