- Chief Compliance Officer and VP of Legal Affairs, Arrow Electronics
By 
Jaclyn Jaeger2020-04-15T19:56:00
Westpac has set aside AUS$900 million (U.S. $570 million) for a potential fine with Australian enforcement authorities related to a money laundering scandal and for allegations of facilitating child exploitation in the Philippines and Southeast Asia.
THIS IS MEMBERS-ONLY CONTENT. To continue reading, choose one of the options below.
News and analysis for the well-informed compliance or audit exec. Select an option and click continue.
Annual Membership $499 Value offer
Full price one year membership with auto-renewal.
Membership $599
One-year only, no auto-renewal.
By balking at original allegations, Westpac opened itself to infinitely more harm, writes financial crime expert Martin Woods.
An internal report outlining compliance failures by Australia-based financial institution Westpac that led to 23 million breaches of the country’s AML/CTF laws concluded “a mix of technology and human error” were to blame.
Amid a money-laundering investigation and faced with allegations of facilitating child exploitation in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, Westpac has appointed a new head of financial crime compliance.
London has long had the dubious reputation of being the world’s money laundering capital and it looks like it’s a title it is likely to retain for some time yet.
The U.K. will struggle to shed its reputation as one of the world’s biggest conduits for dirty money due to a combination of patchy intelligence-sharing and poorly resourced enforcement agencies, experts told Compliance Week.
The U.K. has an ongoing problem with money laundering, but recent changes to economic crime law and corporate registration requirements could bring more cases to court, according to consultancy KPMG.
