A class action has been filed in the Federal Court against Count Financial, a financial advice firm that was previously owned by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA).

CBA says it has been notified of the legal proceedings against its former subsidiary, which was sold last year for $2.5 million to listed adviser group CountPlus.

The class action relates to commissions paid to the firm and its authorised representative advisers for financial products including life insurance and certain obligations to provide ongoing advice from August 21 2014 to August 21 this year, according to CBA.

“As previously announced, CBA will continue to support and manage customer remediation matters arising from past issues at Count Financial,” the bank said in a statement.

CBA says it has given to CountPlus an indemnity of $300 million for past conduct remediation.

As part of the sale agreement last year, CBA provided up to a maximum of $200 million in indemnity to cover remediation costs and the limit was raised in July to $300 million.

CountPlus has said the potential for further increases to the indemnity limit remains under certain triggers relating to the failure rate for fee for no service and inappropriate advice.

Law firm Piper Alderman, which filed the class action, says Count Financial “contravened obligations” owed to their clients when taking commissions from product issuers or customers.

The lawsuit will allege that the firm breached the Corporations Act by failing to ensure adviser remuneration was free from conflict, act in clients’ best interest when giving advice and to provide services where fees were charged.

“These claims have the prospect of recovering significant sums of money for a large number of individuals,” Partner Martin del Gallego said.

The class action is run on a no win, no fee basis and is financed by Woodsford Litigation Funding.