Westpac reveals AUSTRAC review

Westpac’s failure to properly adhere to AUSTRAC guidance occurred due to “deficient financial crime processes, compounded by poor individual judgements”.

Westpac identified three primary causes of its failure to comply with AML/CTF laws, including that some areas of AML/CTF risk were not sufficiently understood within Westpac; that there were unclear end-to-end accountabilities for managing compliance; and that there was a lack of sufficient AML/CTF expertise and resourcing.

“While the compliance failures were serious, the problems were faults of omissions,” said chief executive Peter King. “There was no evidence of intentional wrongdoing.”

More to come.