Who Gets Paid in the Commonwealth Bank Super Class Action Settlement?
Commonwealth Bank of Australia has agreed to pay A$249 million to settle a class action over interest rates paid on cash held in Colonial First State superannuation and wrap accounts. The deal is in-principle only. It still needs documentation, Federal Court approval, and a distribution plan. But if approved, it could send money to members of three Colonial funds whose cash was allegedly invested at low rates for more than a decade.
A case about where members' cash sat
The class action was filed by Slater and Gordon in 2018 on behalf of lead applicant Keith Kayler-Thomson. The claim: Colonial First State put members' cash and deposit balances into accounts with its parent bank, CBA, at rates well below those available elsewhere in the market. The alleged conduct ran from November 2008 to September 2021 and covered cash and deposit options in Colonial First State super and wrap products.
Three funds are named in the class: FirstChoice, Commonwealth Essential Super, and the Avanteos Superannuation Trust. Slater and Gordon's list of affected products is long. It includes FirstChoice Personal Super, Pension, Wholesale Personal Super, Wholesale Pension, and Employer Super with options such as FirstRate Saver, the Cash Deposit option in Commonwealth Essential Super, and all members of the Avanteos Superannuation Trust over the relevant period. Some survivor and family law payment recipients are also covered.
No sign-up required
If you are in the class, you do not need to register. Australian class actions usually work that way: eligible people are automatically group members unless they opt out. That means the lawyers cannot simply distribute the money to people who raised their hands.
The funding also works on a structured basis. The case was run with a litigation funder, so group members did not pay legal fees out of pocket. Any legal fees and the funder's commission must be approved by the court and would come out of the settlement amount. How much each member receives is still unknown.
What the settlement does not say
CBA, Colonial First State Investments Limited, and Avanteos Investments Limited deny all allegations and make no admission of liability. The settlement is not a finding that they did anything wrong. It is a negotiated way to end a case that had been running since 2018.
For CBA, the financial sting is modest. The A$249 million was already covered by a provision recognised in an earlier reporting period. That means the settlement does not create a new hit to the bank's balance sheet.
Why the case matters
The underlying allegation is about related-party arrangements inside superannuation. Colonial First State had a duty to act in members' interests when investing their cash, but the claim was that it parked that cash with its own parent at rates far below what an independent manager could have obtained. If the allegations were true, the cost fell on members' retirement balances over many years.
The case also shows how long such disputes can take. Court approval is still required, and no timeline for finalisation or payment has been disclosed. For members, the practical lesson is simpler: cash options in super are not necessarily as neutral or risk-free as they sound.