Australia’s Westpac Banking has said in a defence filing in court that it “made a large number of admissions” of failures in a case where it stands accused of 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws.
The Sydney-based lender now admits its failure to correctly report various international transfers of funds as required by law, adding that it accepted the gravity of the issues raised by the regulator AUSTRAC.
Grave issues
Westpac filed its defence in relation to civil proceedings brought by AUSTRAC on 20 November 2019 regarding alleged contraventions of its obligations under Australia’s AML/CFT legislation.
Australia’s second largest bank said it “accepts the gravity of the issues raised by the AUSTRAC claim and has made a large number of admissions” in its response to the statement of claim.
Reporting failures
These include the non-reporting of electronic instructions to transfer money to Australia from a foreign country or to a foreign country from Australia.
Westpac has also admitted failures in record keeping, ongoing customer due diligence and correspondent banking obligations.
Categories: Trade Based Financial crimes News
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