Westpac Banking corporation was charged to breach of anti- money laundering and counter terrorism laws. The bank offered to pay 1.3 million Australian dollars which translates to nine hundred and twenty million US dollars.
Austrac had filed a civil lawsuit accusing the Sydney based bank of paving the way to over twenty three million payments that had breached the anti-money laundering rules and includes payments by Australians to Child Pornography distributors in the Philippines.
The amount is greater than the provision of nine hundred million dollars made by the second largest bank in the country in its first half results. Both Westpac and Austrac have agreed to this.
The Chief executive Peter King had stated that Westpac does not commit to these errors in the future and all relevant products that were reported are being closed down.
The bank had decided to increase its provision by four hundred and four Australian dollars estimating the additional penalties and costs.
