Westpac added it would increase the provision in its accounts for the year ending September 30 by a further A$404 million
Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp said on Thursday it would pay A$1.3 billion ($920 million) to settle a case filed by the country’s financial crimes watchdog against the lender for breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws.
Last November, AUSTRAC filed a civil lawsuit accusing the Sydney-based bank of presiding over 23 million payments that violated anti-money laundering protocols, including payments by Australians to child pornography purveyors in the Philippines.
The A$1.3 billion penalty, which both Westpac and AUSTRAC have agreed to recommend to the court, is larger than the A$900 million provision made by the country’s second-largest bank in its first-half results.
“We are committed to fixing the issues to ensure that these mistakes do not…