Frequently asked questions

There is no upfront or out of pocket cost for registering for the Settlement.

The total of the sums proposed to be deducted from the Resolution Sum of $33 million (which is the amount SPSL (Suncorp) has agreed to pay under the terms of the Proposed Settlement) is approximately $18.68 million. Not all of the deductions are to pay the lawyers or the funder. Please refer to question 6 above for the details of the proposed deductions.

It is important to understand that the only costs and remuneration amounts that will be deducted from Group Members’ compensation are those amounts which the Court was satisfied were fair and reasonable in all the circumstances.

You can access or download the relevant documents from William Roberts Lawyers’ Suncorp Super Class Action website here or the Supreme Court of NSW’s website here.

The Settlement Deed (which sets out the terms of the Settlement agreed between the parties) and the Settlement Distribution Scheme (which includes details of how the Settlement Administrator intends to determine Group Members’ entitlements) were available on the Registration web page. These documents can be obtained by Registered Group Members upon request made to the Settlement Administrator.

To facilitate the distribution of the Resolution Sum to Group Members, SPSL (Suncorp) was ordered by the Court to and has provided specified information about each of the Group Members, to the extent that SPSL (Suncorp) was able to locate such information after undertaking reasonable searches of its records.

The data included a complete list of members (present and former) of the SPSL Master Trust in respect of whose accounts the Commissions^ the subject of the Suncorp Super Class Action were paid. As such, if a member's name is not contained in the data, it was deemed that that member was not a Group Member who was entitled to participate in the Settlement Distribution Scheme.

Please note that there may be a number of reasons why your name may not have been in the data provided by SPSL (Suncorp) and you are not able to participate in the settlement.

For instance, if you were or are a “Sunsuper” member please note that “Sunsuper” is a different superannuation fund and brand to that in the Suncorp Superannuation class action.

Additionally, please note that, even if you were a Suncorp (SPSL) Superannuation member during the Relevant Period (1 July 2013 to 21 June 2019), you will not be a Group Member if you only held a Suncorp product known as a “risk-only” product.

Such “risk-only” products are not the subject of this Suncorp Superannuation Class Action.

A “risk-only” product is a life risk insurance product (within the meaning of s963B(1)(b)(i) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Corporations Act)) which has no investment component or balance and is not either:

1. a group life policy for members of a superannuation entity; or
2. a life policy for a member of a default superannuation fund within the meaning of s963B(1)(b)(ii) of the Corporations Act.

Consequently, if you only held a “risk-only” product with SPSL during the Relevant Period (that is, if, other than "risk-only products", you held no other products with SPSL during the Relevant Period), you are not a Group Member in this class action and your name will not be contained in the data.

Even if you held an SPSL product that was not a “risk-only” product in the Relevant Period, you nevertheless may not be a Group Member if, during the Relevant Period, you did not pay the relevant Commissions, or all of your Commissions paid have been refunded or rebated to you by SPSL.

^ Commission includes up-front, trailing and all other forms of commission, but does not include commissions paid in relation to a Risk-Only Product (as defined in paragraph 20b) of the Further Amended Commercial List Statement) or fees agreed to by members for the provision of advice services.

The class action was run by William Roberts Lawyers.

LCM funded the case. LCM is a subsidiary of a publicly listed litigation funder, Litigation Capital Management Limited.

The Settlement Administrator is Andrew Knight of KordaMentha and will administer the Settlement Distribution Scheme. The Settlement Distribution Scheme establishes how Group Members’ entitlements will be calculated and the process for distributing the Resolution Sum as efficiently as possible