97-year-old victim of “dodgy” planner is taking the fight to the banks

There were a lot of victims of banned Commonwealth Bank financial planner Don Nguyen, but now one 97-year-old is fighting back against the bank. The woman asked to remain nameless as the case is still ongoing.

The fight centres around a compensation claim that she lodged over 18 months ago that is at this stage being ignored; even though her case was the centrepiece for the banning of Nguyen by ASIC in 2011. Her long-time friend and new financial adviser told Fairfax Media, “Given that, in 18 months, very little progress has happened and the only update received on progress is when I email or call, I find it very disappointing and would not have believed it based on the bank’s press releases on how they value customers”.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has publicly demanded that there be a royal commission into the banking sector and for this case, it couldn’t come fast enough. Though being fast is something the compensation scheme hasn’t been accused of being as hundreds of customers are still waiting for their claims.

The 97-year-old invested $1 million with the disgraced investor in 2006 and lost $600,000 of her life savings by Nguyen’s “dodgy” advice. To date, the bank has returned $400,000 but have ignored the claim for another $200,000. Her advisor said “Mrs K is in her late 90s … Her claim doesn’t cover compensation for stress or frustration,” the claim doesn’t cover any missed investment opportunities either.

The only comment they can get from the bank at this time is a statement reading “At this stage, I can confirm the program has retrieved the documents from the bank’s archives. Please be aware there are over 9000 registrations so far and we have completed over 1500 to date. You will be allocated a review manager, once assessment commences.”

How long do they intend to let this 97-year-old wait? What do you think of the case?