Dead customers pay

Some Commonwealth Bank advisers charged dead clients for financial advice, in one case for a decade, the banking royal commission has heard.

A 2015 document for CBA’s Count Financial business shows examples of advisers charging ongoing service fees after clients had died.

One adviser knew a client had died in 2004, but the adviser service fees were still being charged a decade later, the document shows.

‘‘When asked, he said he didn’t know what to do and he had tried to contact the public trustee and had not heard back,’’ the document noted.

The adviser was getting about $65 a month in fees in 2014 and 2015.

Another customer of a different adviser died in 2007 and contact was made with the client’s wife in 2013 but no action was taken, the royal commission heard on Thursday.

The commission also heard another CBA advice business, Commonwealth Financial Planning, had complaints from customers about fees for no service for six years before the bank made a formal notification about the problem to the corporate regulator in 2014.