Illustration: Kerrie Leishman. Where it fell down was "there has not been adequate subsequent review of advice provided by those potential at risk representatives prior to 2012 relating to their identified areas of concern." This is a serious shortcoming given many of the problems with CBA's financial advice happened as far back as 2003. Nevertheless, KordaMentha believed most of the 51 potential at-risk reps were adequately dealt with under CBA's various review, supervision and monitoring processes, leaving 17 potential risky advisers who now face additional scrutiny of customer files. Of those under investigation, five still work for the bank. The report doesn't mention where the other 12 landed or whether they are still practicing as financial planners or in another part of the industry.

To make it even more confusing, the report says there are really 19 "potential at-risk representatives who in our opinion still require review". Two are taken off the list on questionable grounds. The report says the bank didn't have access to the files held by Financial Wisdom advisers (as a result of their contractual arrangements before 2010), nor did it have enough information to be able to reconstruct client files. This is a surprising revelation and raises questions why the regulator isn't doing more to try and retrieve these files. If there is nothing to hide and no issues with that planner's audit reviews then that should be made public by ASIC, KordaMentha or CBA. In the case of the second adviser, KordaMentha says he/she quit the industry in 2006, which, "given the passage of time, the relatively short period of being an adviser, lack of complaints against the adviser relating to inappropriate advice, and no relevant registrations under the Open Advice Review, it is unlikely that the licensee would be able to undertake remediation in relation to this adviser." The 17 advisers who have been identified as "potential at-risk representatives" aren't necessarily bad apples but they have been flagged. It is a reminder of what went on inside the bank and the role of management, many who have since moved on to other parts of the industry without adequate punishment. A number of planners were banned by ASIC, but management got off scot-free.

To put it into context, in February 2008 - eight months before the CBA whistleblower warned ASIC about a cover-up inside the bank with "sanitisation" of files – ASIC wrote to the bank and mentioned 38 advisers were "critical risk". It also raised concerns about serious deficiencies in CBA's ability to properly rate its advisers. "Our review of advice given by representatives that were rated as Negligible identified significant issues that we would not consider negligible," the letter said. A "critical risk" adviser can include "fraud and dishonest conduct", "deliberate or reckless failure to disclose fees, costs, charges, relationship and warnings" and "no evidence of appropriate advice".

CBA is desperate to put the scandal behind it. It has spent the past few years trying to clean up its act, including announcing a new compensation scheme and putting in place a more vigilant compliance program to better identify problem advice. It has also raised the bar at Financial Wisdom, changing its policy in 2011 to require copies of all advice documents before a planner leaves the business.

Nevertheless, the identification of 17 potential bad apples needs to be taken seriously. The planners were identified using industry leading data analytics, which doesn't necessarily mean inappropriate advice was provided or that it caused customer loss. For instance, the data analytics flags an adviser as potentially high risk if he/she has more than 1.5 per cent of their client portfolio invested in Listed Property Trusts. The review is the second of a three-part review. The final review will reveal whether any of the 17 potential bad apple planners offered inappropriate advice. Until now 15 planners have been identified as "rogue" planners. These include Rick Gillespie who was banned for life for forging client signatures. Others including Don Nguyen put retirees into high risk products that cost them their life savings. The report makes for difficult reading but it shines a light on the number of projects CBA has undertaken over the past few years as a result of the scandal inside its financial planning division. These include Project Hartnett, Project Baringa, Project AARK and Project BIM. Let's hope the industry has learnt its lesson.