Law firm Piper Alderman has filed a class action against Count Financial, alleging the former Commonwealth Bank-owned (CBA) advice firm failed its clients on several counts.

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.

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

The bank says the class action relates to commissions paid to Count Financial and its authorised representatives for financial products including life insurance and certain obligations to provide ongoing advice from August 21 2014 to August 21 this year.

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

CBA says it has given an indemnity of $300 million to CountPlus 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.