Directors at the nation's second largest bank held a conference call on Wednesday to discuss a settlement with the financial crimes regulator,the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC),after negotiations intensified in recent weeks.
Banking industry sources,who requested anonymity because the talks are confidential,toldThe Age andThe Sydney Morning Herald the penalty could reach $1.5 billion and would be announced at a joint press conference in coming days. One source close to the negotiations said the final figure was"not definitely locked in"but talks between the parties had escalated and a settlement was close to being agreed.
"The parties are trying to get it resolved. I’m being hopeful it’s in the next 48 hours,it could be 24,it could be 12,it could be three days"the source said."My view is it’s still a moving feast."
A penalty of around $1 billion would be a new record corporate fine in Australia,surpassing CBA was fined for facilitating money laundering linked to arms and drugs dealers through its ATMs. The fine dwarfed the previous record,ofin 2017.
Westpac's money laundering scandal threw the bank into turmoil last year,triggering the departure of its former chief executive Brian Hartzer and former chairman Lindsay Maxsted.
The big four bank had previously flagged it intended to accept most of the charges put forward by AUSTRAC in a bombshell statement of claim lodged in the Federal Court last November.
,including an additional $160 million to improve its financial crimes detection procedures and donations to child exploitation agencies.
AUSTRAC alleged the bank breached anti-money laundering laws 23 million times by failing to properly vet thousands of international transactions,including customers who paid for child exploitation and live child sex shows in the Philippines and other parts of South East Asia.
Westpac released the findings of its own investigation into the compliance breaches in June,with two major investigations blaming technology failures,leadership misjudgments and poor systems for the breaches.
The bank has been hit with threeled to a sell off in its shares.
A Westpac spokesperson said the bank was unable to comment because the matter was before the courts.
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