The National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) share price will be one to watch this morning after the banking giant was hit with another potential class action.
What happened?
According to an announcement out of litigation funder IMF Bentham Ltd (ASX: IMF), it plans to launch a class action with William Roberts Lawyers against the bank's MLC Super Fund trustee company, NULIS Nominees.
The release explains that the class action is relating to excess fees charged to members of the MLC Super Fund by NULIS from July 1 2016 onwards.
The claim will allege that NULIS breached its obligations to act in the best interest of the members of the MLC Super Fund, when it agreed to levy and levied these excess fees from member's accounts in order to pay commissions and other fees to advisers.
According to the AFR, the law firm believes these excess fees are likely to exceed $100 million.
Background.
The class action announcement explains the background to the claim:
"From 1 July 2013, the Future of Financial Advice Reforms banned conflicted remuneration for financial advisors, being commissions and other payments that could reasonably influence the advice given to retail clients. Under 'grandfathering provisions' of the FOFA Reforms, certain commissions or other payments to be made under an arrangement entered into prior to 1 July 2013 were excepted from the ban."
"In mid-2016 there was a reorganisation of the superannuation fund structures operated by the MLC/NAB group, with NULIS becoming the trustee for the MLC Super Fund. Members were transferred to the MLC Super Fund. NULIS, the new trustee, decided to maintain the Conflicted Charges that were being paid from Transferred Members' accounts to advisers prior to 1 July 2016. The class action will allege that this decision by NULIS to maintain payment of the Conflicted Charges from 1 July 2016 and the making of such payments, constituted a breach of its duty to act in the best interest of the members of the MLC Super Fund."
NAB has yet to comment on the news.
