Storm Financial Group

[DocK]

I've heard that there has been a major development in the Storm case...Macquarie Bank have offered a substantial out of court settlement, which the class action lawyers believe is good enough to accept.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/financial-services/macquarie-settles-storm-financial-investor-suit-for-825m/story-fn91wd6x-1226598313633

Macquarie settles Storm Financial investor suit for $82.5m

MACQUARIE Group has agreed to settle for $82.5 million a case brought against the firm by investors advised by Storm Financial, the Queensland financial advice business that collapsed in the global financial crisis.

In a statement to the stock exchange today, the financial services giant said the settlement included an acknowledgement by the investors - who had margin loan facilities provided by Macquarie - that there was no wrongdoing by Macquarie.

The $82.5m settlement, which requires the approval of the Federal Court of Australia, will have no impact on Macquarie’s result for the year to March 31 or any subsequent period, the firm said. Macquarie declined to comment.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Congratulations, all Storm investors with loans from Macquarie.

This is great news, and an incredible sea-change.

You will be the first large group of small investors in the history of Australian Financial Advisory debacles, to actually get a victory over the big guys.

This will set a precedent, and protect your children and grandchildren.

I never thought you would achieve it.

Well done.

Let us hope you invest wisely in the future and stay away from financial advisers.

gg

 

[Ijustnewit]

Congratulations, all Storm investors with loans from Macquarie.

This is great news, and an incredible sea-change.

You will be the first large group of small investors in the history of Australian Financial Advisory debacles, to actually get a victory over the big guys.

This will set a precedent, and protect your children and grandchildren.

I never thought you would achieve it.

Well done.

Let us hope you invest wisely in the future and stay away from financial advisers.

gg

Yes invest wisely in the future and stay away from financial advisers .. Ahmen to that.

 

[Julia]

I'm all for people educating themselves, have harped on about it all through this thread, but to imply that all financial advisers are shonks is a bit unreasonable and unfair to those who genuinely have their clients' interests at heart. To assume they are all like Storm is not right.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

Congratulations, all Storm investors with loans from Macquarie.

This is great news, and an incredible sea-change.

You will be the first large group of small investors in the history of Australian Financial Advisory debacles, to actually get a victory over the big guys.

This will set a precedent, and protect your children and grandchildren.

I never thought you would achieve it.

Well done.

Let us hope you invest wisely in the future and stay away from financial advisers.

gg

Yes invest wisely in the future and stay away from financial advisers .. Ahmen to that.

I'm all for people educating themselves, have harped on about it all through this thread, but to imply that all financial advisers are shonks is a bit unreasonable and unfair to those who genuinely have their clients' interests at heart. To assume they are all like Storm is not right.

Quite close to the hotel is another iteration of Storm.

As the weeks go by the car park gets more full.

More unfortunate muppets in to the snare.

How can the average citizen, Julia, know the competence of a financial adviser?

ASIC don't know.

The Financial Advisers mob don't know.

At this very moment in time a new Storm is brewing, and muppets are being harvested.

gg

 

[Harleyquin]

Unfortunately GG I think that you're 100% right.

Financial advisors will always pose a risk as they can use their financial knowledge against those who need financial advice. There are still too many sharks in the industry for the ordinary man/ woman to risk taking anyone's financial advice.

And in the case of Storm Financial, we saw all the major banks prepared to give them the financial ammunition that they needed to put their dodgy plan into action.

Had the banks refused to fund storm financial this debacle would never have occurred, but they were prepared to break their own rules of conduct for financial gain, and then had the audacity to call their victims greedy.

The FPA don't care and our Government and their lapdog don't have the strength of their convictions to stop it happening again. ASIC have let the CBA off the hook with a slap on the wrist so they'll be the first in line to fund another dodgy scheme IMHO.

 

[Frank Ainslie]

‘The Macquarie Bank settlement’ - A victim’s perspective!’

It has been a long road for many of us since we were shafted by Storm and the banks back in 2008. Now that a settlement has been reached between the people in the Macquarie Bank class action and that ****house bank one would think that the likes of us who were in the class action would be celebrating? However, I personally have mixed feelings this morning. Certainly, I am pleased that we can at long last have closure but I am left with an empty feeling that the job was only half done. At the end of the day the bad guys were able once again to buy themselves out of trouble and all the rhetoric tht has gone before didn’t really amount to a hill of beans in the final analysis.

Quite frankly we remain ignorant of what this settlement will mean for us personally because this agreement caught all of us by surprise. What will we do with any money that we get back under this settlement? Live, simply live!

We personally will never again trust anyone with our money. They simply can’t be trusted! By they, I mean the banks, financial advisers, this government and its appointed regulator and all those “so called experts” that profess to have our interests at heart but really only serve their own interests in the end.

There may be some of you reading this that will get stung yourselves by such people in the course of your lives. My advice to you is to trust no one!

During the last four years I have encountered many that have been completely destroyed by what happened to them when they placed their trust in a financial advisory firm and some of the major banks in this country. Many have ended their lives because they just couldn’t take it any more. And for what? We won’t even be a glitch on the Macquarie Bank’s balance sheet this year.

As for our legal system I have seen it in action first-hand in the past few months. It no longer serves the people but instead provides a means of sucking people even further dry. Yes, we obtained a settlement by using this avenue but if the Law really served the people, it would pursue these criminals come what may and not allow them to escape by buying their way out of jail.

Oh, and by the way, don’t even bother to try and find justice in a courtroom unless you have a few million to spare. It costs $15,000 a day just to be heard before you throw in the legal fat cats for good measure.

Many on this forum have been critical of us that entrusted Storm with our life savings. You haven’t been alone because many of our friends share your point of view. It is not my intention to explore the merits of such an argument further. I will only say this. If trust is a commodity that no longer can be relied on in business here in Australia where do we sit as a nation morally? For that matter if we are willing to tolerate those among us that target the unsuspecting, and never seek to curtail their actions, what does that make us?

Above all else, we that settled missed a unique opportunity to strike a blow for all those that have been shafted by banks. Hopefully, one day these pillars of vice will be brought into line. Until that day comes we all remain potential victims of their greed.

 

[Judd]

The article is a tad confusing in some respects. It reports that investors lost $290M which varies from other amounts reported to have been lost. Taking it at face vale, I'll assume that it relates only to Macquarie so the settlement is about $0.28 in the dollar. After the lawyers slice out their cut (no pro bono there!) what does that leave? 15c to 20c in the dollar? After all that stress and angst. Seems to me that the investors still lost and not only in monetary terms. As was stated ages ago in this thread, most of the law is about property, ie who owns or owes what, and not about people and you can never be certain about the final outcome.

As for the bank(s) a one-off (relatively miniscule) hit to the bottom line (and probably tax deductible) after which who cares.

 

[bunyip]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/financial-services/macquarie-settles-storm-financial-investor-suit-for-825m/story-fn91wd6x-1226598313633

In a statement to the stock exchange today, the financial services giant said the settlement included an acknowledgement by the investors - who had margin loan facilities provided by Macquarie - that there was no wrongdoing by Macquarie.

In reference to the statement above in blue......
I’m not here to judge whether or not there was wrongdoing by Macquarie.
I’ve said many times on this forum that if any wrongdoing can be proven against the banks, then they should be penalised accordingly.
But what I find myself wondering is this......
If investors acknowledge that there was no wrongdoing by Macquarie, then why was that company sued by investors?

 

[pilots]

In a statement to the stock exchange today, the financial services giant said the settlement included an acknowledgement by the investors - who had margin loan facilities provided by Macquarie - that there was no wrongdoing by Macquarie.

In reference to the statement above in blue......
I’m not here to judge whether or not there was wrongdoing by Macquarie.
I’ve said many times on this forum that if any wrongdoing can be proven against the banks, then they should be penalised accordingly.
But what I find myself wondering is this......
If investors acknowledge that there was no wrongdoing by Macquarie, then why was that company sued by investors?

How true, once AGAIN the wood ducks got screwed big time, and the lawyers walked away with the money

 

[bunyip]

The article is a tad confusing in some respects. It reports that investors lost $290M which varies from other amounts reported to have been lost. Taking it at face vale, I'll assume that it relates only to Macquarie so the settlement is about $0.28 in the dollar. After the lawyers slice out their cut (no pro bono there!) what does that leave? 15c to 20c in the dollar? After all that stress and angst. Seems to me that the investors still lost and not only in monetary terms. As was stated ages ago in this thread, most of the law is about property, ie who owns or owes what, and not about people and you can never be certain about the final outcome.

As for the bank(s) a one-off (relatively miniscule) hit to the bottom line (and probably tax deductible) after which who cares.

As many of us said on this thread years ago, the law firms will be the big winners from the Storm debacle.
And the real culprits - the unsrupulous people at Storm Financial - will quite likely get little more than a slap over the wrist.

 

[pilots]

Bunyip, We have living in our street a Financial Adviser, our street is a high $ street, this adviser is over 60 years old, he rents his house and car, I find it unbelievable that he who has NOTHING should be allowed to advise people what to do with their life savings.

 

[Julia]

Bunyip, We have living in our street a Financial Adviser, our street is a high $ street, this adviser is over 60 years old, he rents his house and car, I find it unbelievable that he who has NOTHING should be allowed to advise people what to do with their life savings.

Do you necessarily know that he doesn't have a string of investment properties or various other sources of income?
Just finds, as many people do, that renting is a more financially viable option?
Ditto leasing a car, it's tax deductible, and an easy way to turn it over more frequently.
I have no idea of his circumstances, just suggesting what you see on the surface may not be the whole picture.

 

[Julia]

Financial advisors will always pose a risk as they can use their financial knowledge against those who need financial advice.

That's a good perspective. People who have not acquired some basic financial literacy will not be in a position to question what they're being told.
At least, since the Storm debacle, there have been several exposes of shonky financial advice and hopefully more people will equip themselves with at least enough knowledge to avoid being fleeced.

It has been a long road for many of us since we were shafted by Storm and the banks back in 2008. Now that a settlement has been reached between the people in the Macquarie Bank class action and that ****house bank one would think that the likes of us who were in the class action would be celebrating? However, I personally have mixed feelings this morning. Certainly, I am pleased that we can at long last have closure but I am left with an empty feeling that the job was only half done. At the end of the day the bad guys were able once again to buy themselves out of trouble and all the rhetoric tht has gone before didn’t really amount to a hill of beans in the final analysis.

There must almost be a sense of anticlimax amongst the relief.
Frank, your expectations, understandably given your situation, have probably always been too high.
Sure, it would be nice to see what you would view as 'justice', but I doubt it was ever going to happen.

We won’t even be a glitch on the Macquarie Bank’s balance sheet this year.

True enough.

As for our legal system I have seen it in action first-hand in the past few months. It no longer serves the people but instead provides a means of sucking people even further dry. Yes, we obtained a settlement by using this avenue but if the Law really served the people, it would pursue these criminals come what may and not allow them to escape by buying their way out of jail.

Oh, and by the way, don’t even bother to try and find justice in a courtroom unless you have a few million to spare. It costs $15,000 a day just to be heard before you throw in the legal fat cats for good measure.

I don't think anyone is going to argue with your cynicism on this front. It's difficult to have much respect for the whole legal system, including the decisions of the judiciary in many instances.

Above all else, we that settled missed a unique opportunity to strike a blow for all those that have been shafted by banks. Hopefully, one day these pillars of vice will be brought into line. Until that day comes we all remain potential victims of their greed.

By settling you took the only reasonable option. Your opponents would never have run out of money to fight you. To have the whole miserable business finished with some return of your funds is surely better than the continued stress of fighting a battle you were never going to win.

It has been awful for so many people. I sincerely hope it's now possible to make the best of the wash-up and restore some calm to your lives. Good luck.

 

[pilots]

Do you necessarily know that he doesn't have a string of investment properties or various other sources of income?
Just finds, as many people do, that renting is a more financially viable option?
Ditto leasing a car, it's tax deductible, and an easy way to turn it over more frequently.
I have no idea of his circumstances, just suggesting what you see on the surface may not be the whole picture.

He has nothing, has been behind with his rent, when you talk to him you would thing he has it all.

 

[Garpal Gumnut]

I see no reason why Financial Advice should not be included in the Education Curriculum from Grade 1, complete with free " piggy banks " for students.

Many of the Storm investors were not muppets in other areas of their lives, many were from a business background, or held high paying positions in the public service and industry.

Many were at the top of their relevant craft, train drivers, doctors and engineers.

Many were ordinary hardworking people who had saved to provide for their retirement in the jobs that provide the glue that keeps Australia together as a nation, nurses, carers, firemen and policemen, and women too.

Being good at a thing does not make one a financial whiz.

And I would agree that many Financial Advisers would struggle to find a job in any other endeavour.

So, do not depend on ASIC, the Courts, Banks or Institutions to protect you from ill advice.

Another Storm brews as I type.

gg

 

[Vixs]

Bunyip, We have living in our street a Financial Adviser, our street is a high $ street, this adviser is over 60 years old, he rents his house and car, I find it unbelievable that he who has NOTHING should be allowed to advise people what to do with their life savings.

Can doctors smoke? Can lawyers break the law? What a stupid bloody analogy.

 

[Julia]

He has nothing,

How do you know? Re late rent, he might be a sloppy administrator

 

[explod]

I see no reason why Financial Advice should not be included in the Education Curriculum from Grade 1, complete with free " piggy banks " for students.

gg

Not on your topic, but absolute Amen to that gg.

 

[Julia]

Agree in principle, but, heavens, no wonder kids are leaving school semi-literate, given the number of subjects teachers are expected to cram into the curriculum. That, amongst what seems to be their prime function in the public schools of managing woefully bad and disrespectful behaviour.

Just as an aside, the latest weird thing that was reported on Radio National today is primary school kids having their urine tested at school so that the researchers can determine if their diet contains too much salt!!!

Someone, please deliver us from the nanny state.