SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s biggest bank, the Commonwealth, has admitted more than 50,000 breaches of anti-money laundering laws, but said it will defend a host of others claims brought against it.
The lender, the country’s largest company by market capitalization, was hit with a civil case by Australia’s financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC in August.
AUSTRAC alleged the bank engaged in “serious and systemic non-compliance” of anti-money laundering laws involving thousands of transactions.
It prompted other regulators to launch inquiries into the embattled bank over its handling of the issue and its organisational culture. A class action has also been filed.
In its first response, the bank admitted to breaching anti-money-laundering legislation 53,506 times, but said it was due to a “systems-related error.”
“We contest a number of allegations but admit others, including the allegations relating to the late submission of 53,506 threshold transaction reports (TTRs), which were all caused by the same single systems-related error,” it said late Wednesday.
The bank is accused of failing to deliver to AUSTRAC on time reports for cash transactions of Aus$10,000 or more at ATM machines between November 2012 and September 2015, with a total value of Aus$624.7 million.
The financial giant could face a massive fine, with the matter due in court next March.
But the lender said it would defend more than 100 other allegations regarding its alleged failure to disclose suspicious transactions on time, or not at all.
AUSTRAC has flagged more charges could be coming in an amended statement of claim containing additional alleged contraventions.
The August revelations sparked renewed calls for the government to launch a full investigation into Australia’s finance industry, which has been hit with a series of scandals around financial advice, life insurance and mortgage fraud.
Canberra finally relented late last month, saying it was needed to restore faith in the massively profitable banking sector.
© Agence France-Presse
