Renewed interest in CBA’s Count stake

The Commonwealth Bank continues to hold a stake in Count Limited, but at least one of the factors impacting that stake, a class action, is no longer in play.

In an announcement which was only briefly reported this week, both the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) and Count Limited told the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) that the class action had been dismissed.

The class action had alleged that Count Financial, then a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank, had contravened its legal obligations by failing to ensure that their advisers were acting in their clients’ best interest and prioritising their clients’ interests when giving personal financial advice and receiving commissions/and or benefits.

The Federal Court began hearing the case in early 2024 and reserved judgement until this week’s decision.

The bank sold Count Financial to CountPlus in mid-2019 but retained a 38% stake which has since diluted to around 25%.

The CBA had last year acquitted virtually all of the indemnity obligation it provided to CountPlus at the time of the 2019 sale,.

The CBA stake has been regarded as pivotal to any merger and acquisition activity around Count Limited.