Australian regulator takes Westpac to court over multiple compliance failures -Breaking
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(Reuters) – The Australian Securities Regulator has announced that it filed six civil penalties against the regulator. Westpac Banking (NYSE:) Corp. The third-largest bank in the United States, Corp., has been accused of widespread compliance problems throughout its operations over many years.
In a statement by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, (ASIC), Westpac was accused of being involved in fee-for-no service, duplicate insurance policy distribution, and sales of credit cards and flexi loans with wrong interest rates.
ASIC Chair Sarah Court said that “the conduct and the breaches alleged during these proceedings caused widespread consumer damage and ranged across Westpac’s everyday banking and financial advice businesses”
“Westpac needs to urgently improve its culture and systems in order for these systemic failures not to continue.”
These allegations are against Westpac’s superannuation and wealth management, as well as its bank, banking, insurance, and general business businesses.
ASIC reported that Westpac has accepted the accusations in all proceedings. It will compensate customers with A$80 million ($57.06 Million).
Peter King, Westpac’s CEO and president, said that the issues in these areas should never have occurred and that our processes, systems, monitoring, and procedures should have been improved.
The bank said that ASIC and Westpac will submit jointly proposed penalties in each case, totalling A$113 millions.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand stated last week that Westpac’s unit must address compliance and risk governance concerns. This was after an independent report revealed “material shortcomings” in its oversight.
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