At the time, the firm said it would file its action on behalf of investors who purchased shares in the company between 27 May 2015 and 6 December 2018, following “evidence given at the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry that subsidiaries of IOOF breached their duties as superannuation trustees, and that directors and officers of IOOF were well aware of those breaches”.

Following the lodgement of those allegations at the royal commission, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) launched legal proceedings against those subsidiaries and directors of IOOF, seeking – among other things – to disqualify those directors from acting as superannuation trustees.

IOOF responded to the class action at the time by calling it “speculative and without foundation”, arguing it did not engage in misleading and deceptive conduct.

In an ASX announcement on Monday, IOOF said it had reached an agreement for the class action to be discontinued with no order as to costs, with court approval of the settlement still pending.

“IOOF is making no payment to the plaintiff, its lawyers, its funder or any other class member as part of this settlement,” it noted, adding that “IOOF is very pleased with the outcome”.

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Responding to the outcome, Quinn Emanuel partner Damian Scattini said that the APRA proceeding was “conducted in a surprising manner and it resulted in an unexpected outcome”.

In a statement provided to Lawyers Weekly’s sister brand Investor Daily, Mr Scattini said: “Given the APRA decision, our client determined that it was no longer in the interests of group members to continue. The settlement specifically allows any shareholder or former shareholder who wishes to do so to file a claim, whether individually or as a class.”