CANBERRA, Australia: Westpac, Australias second-largest bank, agreed to pay a 1.3 billion Australian dollar ($919 million) fine for breaches of anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing laws, the largest ever civil penalty in Australia, a financial crime regulator said on Thursday.
The regulator, AUSTRAC, said it had agreed with Westpac to the penalty after the bank admitted failing to report 19.5 million international money transfers worth more than $7 billion between November 2013 and September 2018.
If the Federal Court rules the penalty is appropriate, it will become Australias biggest civil penalty.
It will eclipse an AU$700 million ($495 million) settlement paid by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the nations biggest bank, in 2018 for similar but less extensive reporting failures.
AUSTRAC chief…