Bank fined $700m

CBA cops largest civil penalty in nation’s corporate history

COMMONWEALTH Bank has agreed to pay $700 million and legal costs after admitting to breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws.

The agreement, which includes $2.5 million in legal fees, is subject to Federal Court approval.

If agreed by the Federal Court it will represent the largest civil penalty in Australian corporate history. CBA has admitted to 53,700 breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism funding laws, bringing to an end a scandal that led to Ian Narev’s departure as chief executive.

Chief executive Matt Comym said the settlement “brings certainty to one of the most significant issues we have faced”.

“While not deliberate, we fully appreciate the seriousness of the mistakes we made. Our agreement today is a clear acknowledgment of our failures and is an important step towards moving the bank forward. On behalf of Commonwealth Bank, I apologise to the community for letting them down.”

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the Government expected CBA would accept accountability, while applauding the efforts of regulators.

AUSTRAC launched proceedings in August last year, claiming CBA had breached anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism-financing laws by failing to monitor tens of thousands of transactions through its smart ATMs.

The intelligent deposit machines were launched in 2012 without appropriate coding that would automatically send legally required reports for cash transactions of more than $10,000 to the regulator.

In mid-2015, AUSTRAC asked CBA for several missing transaction reports, which led the bank to discover it had failed to send the reports.

The Federal Court hearing is understood to be scheduled in the next few months.