Insights
The Westpac scandal: how did it happen?
By Charlotte Grieve, The Sydney Morning Herald Westpac is alleged to have breached anti-money laundering laws 23 million times. How does that happen? What are banks obliged to track nowadays? And what does the scandal mean for other banks? The fallout from Westpac’s 23 million alleged breaches of anti-money-laundering laws has plunged the bank into crisis and…
Read MoreGreens pressuring the Australian government to tighten AML laws
The Australian Government has been accused of being hypocritical as Scott Morrison, Peter Dutton and others have all been calling out for Westpac to be held accountable for the 23 million breaches of AML/CTF laws when they are not holding themselves to account. Anthony Quinn, CEO of Arctic Intelligence, a software business specialising in audit,…
Read MoreThe biggest challenges giving the RegTech sector a headache right now
By RegTech Analyst From getting accurate data to responding to new regulatory challenges, there are plenty of opportunities and obstacles to overcome for RegTech innovators. The RegTech sector has come into its own. Ever since the great recession of 2008, governments around the world have been clamouring to tighten up the legislation controlling the financial…
Read MoreWhat do FinTech and RegTech stakeholders think about the new Australian senate committee investigating the industry?
By RegTech Analyst Last week the Australian senate announced it would launch a new select committee to ensure the FinTech and RegTech sectors keep growing and remain compliant. Now, industry leaders have revealed what they think about it. The committee will also take a closer look at how the industry is developing globally. It will also…
Read MoreArctic Intelligence awarded Deloitte 2019 Technology Fast 50 Rising Star Award
Three months after being named RegTech Start-Up of the Year 2019, Arctic Intelligence has been recognised in the Deloitte 2019 Technology Fast 50 Rising Star awards. Now in its 19th year in Australia, the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 program ranks fast growing public or private technology companies based on percentage revenue growth over the past…
Read MorePoor legal advice led to AML/CTF breaches at Afterpay
In June 2019, AUSTRAC ordered Afterpay to appoint an external auditor after the agency identified concerns with Afterpay’s compliance with anti-money-laundering laws. The final report from external independent auditor Neil Jeans was provided to AUSTRAC today. In the final report, Jeans broadly praised Afterpay’s compliance efforts and attributed the breaches to poor advice from an…
Read MoreTech transition proves a tough act for banks
– By Supratim Adhikari Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer’s carefully laid out plans to leverage new technology to cut costs and transform the bank’s processes now lie in tatters, as the bank’s management digs in to contain the fallout from the allegations levelled against it by Austrac. Less than two weeks ago, Hartzer was touting…
Read MoreFATF caves as Australia keeps propping up property market with black money
by Nathan Lynch — 20 November 2019 Welcome to the dark side of the Great Australian Dream, an investigation by Nathan Lynch. Australia is facetiously referred to as the Lucky Country for its ability to ship off endless boatloads of minerals, surfing the waves of economic good fortune with a “she’ll be right” swagger. But there’s another more important driver…
Read MoreFATF suspends Australia’s AML law evaluation
The Financial Action Taskforce (FATF) has suspended the evaluation of financial crime laws mid-way through an examination of Australia’s progress in the area. A FATF spokesman said, “In October, the FATF decided to temporarily pause the start of all scheduled follow-up assessments – this is not an Australia specific decision.” But was there more to…
Read MoreNAB may face heavy penalties after admitting money-laundering breaches
Hot on the heels of Westpac’s announcement three weeks ago that it has provisioned hundreds of millions of dollars for additional remediation costs and a potential fine by AUSTRAC, over its failure to report “a large number” of International Funds Transfer Instructions (IFTIs) it was NABs turn to make an announcement. In its annual report…
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