On Thursday, Westpac agreed to pay A$1.3 billion in fines to resolve a lawsuit issued by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) over accusations that the company authorized millions of illegal payments.
The lawsuit was filed ten months ago after AUSTRAC made claims that illegal payments went on for years, as well as claims that 76,000 separate breaches took place.
Chief Executive for Westpac, Peter King, said in a statement:
“We are committed to fixing the issues to ensure that these mistakes do not happen again,”
AUSTRAC is an Australian financial intelligence agency that identifies tax evasion, welfare fraud, terrorism funding, money laundering, and the funding of organized crime.
Nicole Rose, Chief Executive for AUSTRAC, said in a statement:
“Our role is to harden the financial system against serious crime and terrorism financing, and this penalty reflects the serious and systemic nature of Westpac’s non-compliance,”
The Panthera Post 