Westpac risk culture ‘immature and reactive’

Westpac’s culture, governance and accountability (GCA) remediation plan has found that “important aspects” of the bank’s non-financial risk culture were “immature and reactive”. The GCA reassessment, which follows AUSTRAC’s statement of claim over Westpac’s 23 million breaches of anti-money laundering law, also found that the bank was “overly complex”, resulting in confusion around accountability.

“Our reassessment confirms that our management of non-financial risk is currently not at the standard we set for ourselves,” said CEO Peter King. “It is clear we have more to do to address these shortcomings, including improving our risk management capability and risk culture, which is not where we want it to be.

“As a result, we are embarking on a comprehensive, multi-year program called Customer Outcomes and Risk Excellence (CORE). The program is a company priority and as CEO I’m accountable for its delivery.”

More to come.