Westpac says it has found an extra half-million or more suspicious transactions that may have breached AUSTRAC money laundering rules.
The bank is already on the hook for more than 23 million transactions that breached money laundering laws and yesterday provided a surprise update to the market.
The bank said there were 175,000 transactions that it failed to report to the regulator and a further 365,000 reports that may have included incomplete or inaccurate information.
The bank told the ASX that said reporting breaches that it had previously disclosed in May this year were in fact more numerous than it had estimated.
It has set aside $900 million to cover the penalty it could face as a result of the scandal, which unleashed a management shake-up in the country’s oldest bank which saw the chair, CEO, and other senior executives replaced.
Westpac has not yet reached a settlement with AUSTRAC, which has in recent months been demanding more information and has indicated it could lodge an updated statement of claim in the blockbuster case.
The latest reporting failures relate to threshold transaction reports (TTRs), which are reports that banks must lodge with the regulator, AUSTRAC, whenever they process a cash transaction of $10,000 or more.
Westpac said in its Tuesday statement that in response to a request from AUSTRAC, it had given the regulator updated information showing there were about 175,000 TTRs that it failed to make, and a further 365,000 TTRs that were lodged by may have contained incomplete or inaccurate information.
That compares with Westpac’s estimate at its half-year results in early May that there may have 60,000 to 90,000 TTRs that were not lodged with AUSTRAC.
Westpac again cautioned that not all of the reporting failures may have been breaches of the laws, and it was continuing to engage with AUSTRAC.
Westpac shares eased 1.4% to $17.46.
