Westpac under renewed investigation

After an internal review in response to AUSTRAC’s 2019 statement of claim, Westpac reported additional suspicious matter reports in relation to potential child exploitation, as well as issues regarding its obligation to file threshold transaction reports.

AUSTRAC is now further investigating those matters and could amend its statement of claim to include allegations arising from Westpac’s investigation. The regulator has requested information from the bank in relation to threshold transaction report issues and 272 customers who were the subject of suspicious matter reports previously filed as part of Westpac’s lookback.

A further case management hearing is scheduled for 17 June 2020.