First Super will use its vote at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting of the Commonwealth Bank to oppose the re-election of two directors who were on the Board during the CBA financial planning scandal.
“Widespread conflicted financial advice practices at Commonwealth Financial Planning resulted in a Senate Committee Inquiry – which recommended a Royal Commission into the misconduct it found,” First Super CEO Bill Watson said.
The Committee Chair described the evidence of misconduct to be “shocking” and found that planners acted with a “callous disregard for their clients’ interests”.
“Directors who served on the Board during this time must be held accountable.
“First Super will accordingly vote against the re-election of Board Members Andrew Mohl and Launa Inman.”
Mr Watson said it was the Fund’s view the CBA did not do enough initially and then subsequently to manage a serious breach within the company.
“Aside from the very real damage to customers, the failure by the Board has led to loss of confidence in the organisation, harming the Bank’s reputation and impacting on shareholder value.”
The Senate inquiry found that most adviser misconduct appeared to have taken place between 2006 and 2010.
The CBA apology issued by Ian Narev earlier this year referred to the events occurring between 2003 and 2012.
The CBA AGM will be held on 12 November.
First Super, as an individually managed investor through two Australian equities managers, has shareholder status.
