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According to the latest information from AUSTRAC, major Australian banks are at the highest risk of money laundering and terrorist financing (ML / FC) of all banking institutions in the country. A series of banking sector risk assessments Released on September 6th.
AUSTRAC has a complex and widespread criminal environment facing the four major banks (Commonwealth Bank (CBA), National Australia Bank (NAB), ANZ, Westpac), money laundering is the main threat, tax evasion, He warned that drug trafficking would follow. , Scams and scams. The bank is currently responsible for 47 million Australian customers and 73% of total assets.
Nicole Rose, CEO of AUSTRAC, said it is imperative that Australian banking agencies work with governments and law enforcement agencies to protect the Australian financial system and Australians from serious and systematic crimes. Said.
“Criminals take advantage of the gap and use sophisticated methods for their personal desires,” she said. statementFocus on the challenges associated with “rapidly changing financial systems” and “advancement of technology and platforms.”
Crime methods targeting large banks are “extremely diverse”, from misusing cash deposit infrastructure to purchasing high-value assets such as real estate. However, the report states that the most vulnerable financial products to ML / FC are checking accounts, credit card accounts, savings accounts, bank checks and mortgages.
He also emphasized that major banks have “relevance to many known or suspicious cases of terrorist financing in Australia.”
In addition, the assessment shows that large banks have a “mixed record” of risk mitigation strategies, despite large investments to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. rice field.
“In the last few years, serious and systematic flaws have been detected in the subsectors,” the report said. “Governance and assurance regarding AML / CFT (Money Laundering Prevention and Counterterrorism Financing) compliance has been identified as a particular concern, and risk mitigation strategies are not always applied consistently.”
Over the past few years, AUSTRAC has increased oversight of compliance in the financial sector. Money Laundering Prevention and Counterterrorism Financing (AML / CTF) Act, Offers hard lessons to some major banks.
Last September, Westpac Banking Corp $ 1.3 billion ($ 9.6 million) penalty “Violating AML / CTF law more than 23 million times” means “AUSTRAC and law enforcement agencies lacked important information to support police investigations.”
This includes failure to report $ 11 billion worth of AUSTRAC international transactions and inadequate monitoring of customers whose account activity was consistent with financing child exploitation materials.
In 2018, CBA paid the record at that time $ 700 million ($ 517 million) penalty About similar violations.
In June of this year, AUSTRAC NAB Formal Enforcement Investigation, Express concerns about the bank’s potential ongoing breach of customer identification procedures, customer due diligence, and compliance with the AML / CTF program.
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