“I sincerely apologize for the bank’s failure,” CEO Peter King said in a statement. “We’re committed to fixing these issues to make sure these mistakes don’t happen again. This is my first order.”
Shares of Westpac fell in Sydney on Thursday and were trading below the last 1%.
Australian Australian regulators took legal action against Westpac almost a year ago when they said Bank Australia had failed to report millions of notifications for financial transfers in and out of Australia.
Regulatory watchdog Dogg said at the time that Westpac had neglected to properly assess transactions in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia “with known financial indicators of potential child abuse.”
The allegations hit the bank hard and led to the resignation of former CEO Brian Hartzer last November.
The fine reflects the “serious and systemic nature” of Westpac’s non-compliance, AU Strack said in a statement on Thursday.
“We continue to work closely with Westpac and all businesses and we regulate their support to meet their compliance and reporting obligations to ensure that this does not happen in the future,” said Nicole Rose, Chief Executive of WeSte ACA.
– Angus Watts contributed to this report.
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