Gabrielle* was meticulous about keeping records until she unexpectedly suffered a serious health episode in 2010 that saw her in intensive care and led to extensive hospital stays and rehabilitation.

In 2011, as she and her husband, Jonathan*, focused on her recovery, they elected to move the management of their finances to a large financial services firm.

Over the following six or so years, the couple developed a close, trusting relationship with their financial advisor.

Gabrielle started to get the feeling that something wasn’t quite right in early 2019, when she noticed that returns were going down. However, given additional family health challenges and other extenuating circumstances, the couple elected to ‘wait and see’ and decided not to make any changes to their portfolio moving forward.

In September 2021, Gabrielle recalled a phone call from their advisor, explaining that due to the fact they hadn’t been making any transactions in their fund over the past 12 months, Gabrielle and Jonathan were at risk of having their portfolio transferred to a different advisor within the firm.

“I was taken aback and found it quite distressing to see such a shift in attitude toward us, especially as we’d been working so closely with this person, and built up a great level of trust with them over a long period of time,” explained Gabrielle. 

After some consideration, Gabrielle and Jonathan decided that they would cease their relationship with the firm at the end of the financial year, explaining that they would have left sooner, but that they’d paid their fees in advance.

In January 2022, the firm was placed into liquidation. Gabrielle and Jonathan lodged a complaint with AFCA in August 2022 and received a determination in their favour for close to $700,000.

They went on to claim compensation with the CSLR in March 2025 and received a payment of $150,000 in May.

“The Scheme is both a source of relief for so many people in similar situations to us, but we hope it also demonstrates the importance of honesty and integrity across the entire financial services sector, and that fewer people find themselves needing compensation in the future.”“I was taken aback and found it quite distressing to see such a shift in attitude toward us, especially as we’d been working so closely with this person, and built up a great level of trust with them over a long period of time,” Gabrielle explained.

“We are incredibly grateful that the CSLR exists. While we weren’t able to receive the total amount of our determination, $150,000 is far beyond what we ever expected to see,” says Gabrielle. 

*Name changed for privacy