ANZ foots $94m of legacy class actions bill

Insignia Financial, ANZ and Zurich Australia have been able to put history behind them, settling a class actions bought in December 2020 by law firm Slater and Gordon over alleged excessive fees paid out of superannuation funds and inadequate investment returns.

Insignia Financial, which acquired the ANZ Pensions and Investments business in 2021/22, announced to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Friday that OnePath Custodians together with Zurich Australia Limited and ANZ Banking Group had reached an agreement with the applicants to settle the class action for a total of $50 million.

It said that OnePath Custodians would contribute $22 million.

The Insignia announcement noted that the class action was filed on behalf of certain members of the former OnePath Master Fund and Retirement Portfolio Service.

“It related to historical issues regarding interest rates paid on members’ investments in certain cash investment options in the period prior to January 2020 and the payment of grandfathered commissions to financial advisers in the period prior to April, 2019,” the Insignia statement said.

For its part, ANZ said that the superannuation class action related to the investment of superannuation funds with ANZ, when ANZ owned OnePath Custodians and OnePath Life.

It said the Esanda class action related to the use of flex commissions in dealer-arranged Esanda car loans for the period from 1 January 2011 to 31 March 2016, noting that ANZ completed the sale of the Esanda Dealer Finance portfolio in 2016.

ANZ said that it would contribute $14 million to the settlement of the superannuation class action and will pay $85 million for the settlement of the Esanda class action.