Commonwealth Bank’s adviser remediation program has added $151 million to the group’s operating expenses for the year to June 30.

It resulted in a 35% increase in the bank’s risk and compliance spend, to $378 million.

The bank says the rise was also partially due to complying with the Future of Financial Advice legislation.

This has hit the Colonial First State business, including financial advisers, where underlying profit after tax slumped to a loss of $16 million from a $66 million profit the previous year.

Colonial First State operating expenses were up 49% to $440 million. Operating revenue fell 8% to $415 million.

The bank says its results have been affected by “provisioning for customer remediation”.

On July 3, when expressions of interest for the remediation program closed, Commonwealth Bank had received more than 23,000 applications and about 7000 registration forms.

See earlier story