‘CommBank aware of illicit deals’
SYDNEY: Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) confirmed yesterday that its own internal reporting had flagged shortcomings in its monitoring of offshore transactions as early as February, well before it was formally accused of facilitating illicit transfers.
The revelation shows Australia’s biggest bank knew it had major deficiencies in its antimoney laundering and terror financing protocols before regulators first informed it in July of suspected criminal activity on thousands of accounts.
In an unprecedented scandal that has shaken Australia’s banking sector, CommBank is facing potentially billion of dollars in fines after it was sued by financial crime fighting agency AUSTRAC last month for alleged moneylaundering breaches.
Investors are now worried that the A$130 billion (RM443.3 billion) lender, which posted its eighth straight record cash profit on August 9, could come under the scrutiny of foreign regulators for possible breaches across its global platforms.
“There are some legitimate concerns if overseas regulators get involved, other jurisdictions get involved,” said Rohan Walsh, a portfolio manager at Karara Capital that owned CommBank shares.
“The penalties could be quite significant on a worst-case type of outcome.” Reuters