AMP, CBA face advice class actions

Shine Lawyers has filed a claim in the Federal Court of Victoria this week against AMP Financial Planning, Hillross Financial Services and AMP Life.

The AMP claim has followed another class action launched against the wealth giant earlier this week, on behalf of AMP Financial Planning advisers. 

The action is one of three the legal firm has said it will file against institutions for exorbitant life insurance policies, with plans to launch claims against CBA and BT in the coming weeks.

Shine has estimated more than half a million consumers were charged excessive premiums and could be eligible to join one of the three class actions.

Shine class actions practice leader Craig Allsopp said the firms sold unsuspecting customers overpriced in-house life, income protection and TPD cover, despite knowing there were equivalent or better policies with lower premiums available through other insurers.

Shine has invited customers who have bought an AMP Flexible Lifetime Policy provided by AMP Financial Planning, Charter Financial Planning or Hillross Financial Services to participate.

AMP indicated it will be defending the proceedings.

Meanwhile a CBA spokesperson confirmed the group is aware of Shine is investigating a potential class action in relation to certain CommInsure policies sold through advisers.

Similarly, Shine will be going after a CommInsure life or income protection policy provided through Commonwealth Financial Planning appointed advisers, Financial Wisdom, Count Financial or BW Financial Advice.

Customers who hold or previously held a BT Super for Life, BT Super for Life Westpac Group, BT SuperWrap, BT SuperWrap Essentials, BT Panorama Super or BT Superannuation Invest Fund plans between 2014 and 2020 have also been invited to come forward.

“We argue all three financial services providers behaved in a way that was unfair and illegal,” Mr Allsopp said.

“The sheer number of people affected by these premium rorts shows we’re not just talking about a few bad apples but systemic misconduct in the industry.”

He added the amount of money lost by customers varied from a “couple of hundred to several thousand dollars”.

“The reality is, without class actions supported by litigation funders, most victims of would likely never get their money back,” Mr Allsopp said.

ifa has contacted BT for comment, but is still yet to receive a response.