Compensation for Storm victims
Compensation has been agreed upon for Storm Financial victims. Ian Verrender reports.
A SETTLEMENT offer from Commonwealth Bank received scant respect from Storm Financial investors yesterday, despite substantial compensation being approved by an independent panel of eminent legal professionals.
Mark Weir, a co-chairman of the Storm Investors Consumer Action Group, said the details of a margin loan compensation package represented a ''bitter pill to swallow'' for Storm investors.
And he said he would be advocating for members of his investor support group to seriously consider their position before signing up to the principles on offer.
Mr Weir said a recent court case against Leveraged Equities and Macquarie Group that found the banks should restore the portfolio of a margin loan investor was a precedent that should be considered by the independent panel.
Damian Scattini, a lawyer with Slater & Gordon, said the resolution scheme included consideration of the judgment, with a possibility for margin loan customers to achieve the same outcome. But he said Storm investors would have to convince the panel they were both able to meet several margin calls with ready cash and would have tipped more money in when the market was plummeting.
Sean McArdle, a Coolum police officer and Commonwealth Bank customer who has said he was ruined for the sake of a 30 cent phone call for a margin call, said he was party to a legal case being prepared by other solicitors, Levitt and Robinson. He said the settlement principles showed that Commonwealth Bank was ''using a class action lawyer to try to sell what is essentially a disgraceful attempt to buy their way out of legal culpability''.
