Commonwealth Bank of Australia Shareholder
Class Action
Omni Bridgeway Limited (Formerly IMF Bentham) is funding a shareholder class action against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX:CBA) (CBA) in respect of an alleged failure to keep shareholders properly informed regarding its non-compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth) (AML/CTF Act) during the period from 16 June 2014 to 3 August 2017 (inclusive) (Relevant Period).
The class action was filed on 9 October 2017 by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers on behalf of all shareholders affected by the non-disclosure by CBA.
On 7 April 2022, the Court made orders providing that group members who had not yet signed up for the CBA Class Action may register their claims by 4.00pm AEST on 7 June 2022. That deadline has now passed, and the parties intend to seek an order that would prevent group members who did not register by the deadline from participating in any settlement that may be agreed to before 7 November 2022.
Even if you did not register in time, you will remain a group member in the proceeding and may still be eligible to participate in some circumstances (for example, if a settlement is reached after 7 November 2022, if there is a judgment in favour of the applicant, or if the Court does not make an order of the kind the parties intend to seek). For more information, please refer to “Register Your Interest” below.
Background to the class action
On 3 August 2017, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) brought civil penalty proceedings against CBA in the Federal Court of Australia for "serious and systemic non-compliance" with the AML/CTF Act.
Specifically, AUSTRAC alleged that CBA:
- did not comply with its own AML/CTF program in rolling out its Intelligent Deposit Machines;
- did not comply with the requirements of its AML/CTF program relating to monitoring transactions on 778,370 accounts over a period of 3 years;
- failed to give 53,506 threshold transaction reports to AUSTRAC on time for cash transactions of $10,000 or more made through Intelligent Deposit Machines.
Following the commencement of the proceeding by AUSTRAC and an announcement by CBA to the ASX the following day, CBA's share price fell from an intra-day high of $84.69 on 3 August 2017 to an opening price of $80.11 on 7 August 2017 (a fall of $4.58 or 5.4%), on trading volumes more than 2.5 times greater than the preceding three month average.
Cause of Action
The class action against the CBA alleges contraventions involving engaging in misleading or deceptive conduct and/or breaching continuous disclosure obligations in relation to its non-compliance with the AML/CTF Act, information that a reasonable person would expect to have a material effect on the price or value of CBA shares.
Further details about the cause of action can be obtained by contacting Omni Bridgeway using the details below.
Current stage of case
Filed in the Federal Court of Australia on 9 October 2017.
The Opt Out and Registration process was between 7 April and 7 June 2022. This deadline has now passed.
Mediation is now scheduled to occur on 20 & 21 September 2022 (previously 7 & 8 September 2022) and, if there is no settlement, the trial will commence on 7 November 2022.
Key documents
You can download the following key documents below:
Opt Out and Claim Registration Notice and Opt Out Form
Opt Out and Registration Orders
Third Further Amended Statement of Claim filed by Zonia
Amended Originating Application filed by Zonia
Defence to Third Further Amended Statement of Claim filed by CBA
How do I register my interest?
As mentioned above, if you did not register in time, you will remain a group member in the proceeding and may still be eligible to participate in some circumstances (for example, if a settlement is reached after 7 November 2022, if there is a judgment in favour of the applicant, or if the Court does not make an order of the kind the parties intend to seek). If you wish to record your intention to participate in those circumstances, please press the “Register Your Interest” button below.
If you have any queries, you can contact the Omni Bridgeway Client Liaison Team on 1800 490 566.
Key documents
The CBA Shareholder Class Action Funding Agreement (“LFA”) contains a number of clause cross-references that appear to have defaulted to 0 when preparing the LFA in portable document format (“.pdf”). Please click here to obtain an updated version of the LFA with the correct cross-referencing. You are not required to re-execute the LFA, as the cross-referencing errors do not alter the context of the LFA or the clauses in question. Omni Bridgeway apologises for any inconvenience this may cause. Set out below is a table of cross reference corrections:
Clause Number
|
Cross-Reference
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Clause Number
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Cross-Reference
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Clause Number
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Cross-Reference
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4.2
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14
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4.9
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14
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9.11
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19
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14.2
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14
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19.1
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19
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19.8
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19
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19.8.2
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19
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19.9.6
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19
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19.9.8
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19
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19.9.9
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19
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19.10.4
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19
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19.11
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19
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19.14
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19
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23.1
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19
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|
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