‘BANKS MUST SPEND MORE ON COMPLIANCE’
THE head of the prudential regulator says Westpac’s money-laundering and childexploitation scandal has shown Australian banks haven’t spent enough on monitoring potentially suspicious transactions.
Australian Prudential Regulation Authority chair
Wayne Byres yesterday told MPs that his organisation was considering what action to take against Westpac, which has been accused by financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC of breaching money laundering laws 23 million times and allowing payments potentially linked to child abuse.
Mr Byres told the House of Representatives’ economics committee in Canberra that APRA would collaborate with AUSTRAC and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
Labor MP Andrew Leigh asked Mr Byres if the scandal showed big banks needed to plough more cash into compliance, to which Mr Byres replied: “It’s pretty clear they do.”
Mr Byres said there were no concerns about the stability of Australia’s second largest bank, which last week lost chief executive Brian Hartzer over the scandal, but that there were concerns about the culture set by its leadership.
“The bank is financially strong, but the AUSTRAC matter has raised issues of governance, culture and accountability in relation to risk management,” Mr Byres said.
“While we must be careful not to duplicate or cut across matters for which AUSTRAC is the appropriate regulator, and which are before the courts, we are actively considering what further action by APRA is required.”