Litigation firm Slater & Gordon is in advanced discussions with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) over a resolution scheme to provide compensation to its clients affected by the Storm Financial collapse.
“We’re in advanced discussions with the ANZ. In fact, so advanced that we have a draft ANZ resolution scheme,” Slater & Gordon group practice leader, Brisbane, Damian Scattini said.
“We’re just considering the terms of that draft at the moment. NAB [National Australia Bank] has engaged with us and we’re in that process and there have in fact been offers made,” he said.
Scattini said the proposed ANZ resolution scheme, which may affect 200 clients, would follow similar patterns to the now finalised Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) resolution scheme.
“It’s a scaled down version of it and it has its own unique elements, but the desire of all parties to have an expeditious, equitable and transparent outcome is the same,” he said.
Yesterday, the CBA released the outcomes of its resolution scheme, which agreed to cash refunds and home loan cuts for clients of Storm.
Speculation has mounted that a large portion of the 2000 Storm clients will reject the offers, but Scattini denies such a suggestion.
However, Levitt Robinson Solicitors, which has more than 100 Storm-linked clients, believes the CBA’s resolution scheme does not go far enough for its clients.
“They have given them less than I would have thought was the lowest measure of damages in relation to margin loans,” principal solicitor and advocate Stewart Levitt said.
Levitt said he is close to finalising details that would propose the firm run its planned class action before the CBA resolution scheme panel.
“We’re going to propose that we run our class action before the panel, but reserve our right to run a class action in the court if we see fit,” he said.
Draft letters to panel members are in the final stage, he said.
