CBA’s Count indemnity finally ends

The Commonwealth Bank’s remediation indemnity covering its sale of Count Financial Limited (now Count Limited) has ended after being in place for nearly five years.

Count Limited noted the indemnity had ended when delivering its full-year results to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Friday. The indemnity was originally set at $200 million. A spokesperson has noted that while the CBA’s provision is now zero, the indemnity continues to cover matters already identified.

The ending of the indemnity obligation on the CBA is expected to again raise questions about the future of the bank’s remaining 25.75% shareholding in Count Limited.

The Count Limited full-year results reflected the fact that it is still yet to full bed down and derive the expected synergies from its acquisition of Diverger earlier this year with the company reporting 78% decline in net profit after tax attributable to members to $1.104 million.

However, this result needed to be weighed against solid underlying performance with underlying NPAT attributable to members up 68% to $5.754 million.

The Diverger acquisition had also contributed to Count’s funder under advice (FUA) rising by 104% to $34.2 billion.

Commenting on the result, Count chief executive, Hugh Humphrey said that it had been a transformative year for the company.

“A clear highlight for the company has been the delivery of the benefits associated with the successful acquisition of Diverger in March 2024 through a scheme of arrangement,” he said. “This elevated Count to become the second largest wealth management advice firm in Australia.”

Humphreys said that Count generates revenues equivalent to a top 20 Australian accounting firm and is delivering on its ambition of creating an integrated system with a greatly expanded services segment.