Westpac cops biggest fine in Australian corporate history
Westpac (WBC) -0.12%
Traded largely in line with the rest of its big 4 peers today – a good result on the day it was hit for the largest fine in corporate history. Westpac settled its dealings with AUSTRAC today for a whopping $1.3b, admitting to 23 million breaches of the money laundering and terrorism financing laws 6 months after the issues were raised.
The fine is $400m more than the bank had provisioned for in the first half of the year – the market was largely prepared for that though and while it’s a little more than hoped, it also means a line in the sand has been drawn, the bank can move past the distraction and the market has one less thing to concern itself over. It remains a tough environment out there for banks with little change in sentiment despite the rebound in the economy. Westpac declined to pay a half year dividend but could now look to pay one at the full year results out later in the year given the fine is not crippling the capital position, which remains strong
Westpac (WBC) Chart
