Westpac's boss says he was "utterly horrified" by the finance watchdog's accusations the bank was oblivious to child exploitation circuits in South East Asia.
Brian Hartzer also dodged questions about his future at the bank in a teleconference with media on Wednesday. AUSTRAC has taken Westpac to court over allegations the bank contravened the laws on more than 23 million occasions, persistently breaching money-laundering and counter-terror laws. The chief executive said he was "very sorry" it had happened and would personally lead the bank's response into the matter.
The watchdog also found the bank also failed to do customer due diligence on high-risk transactions to South East Asia, with potential child exploitation risks.Mr Hartzer said he only became aware around the issues of due diligence a month ago, but only learned of the specifics on Wednesday, saying he was "disgusted" by what he read.
Glad im refinancing away from west pac but unfortunately its from one corrupt thief to another .... but what choice do we have in a corrupt system of kids who were bullied at school and now getting pay back to society ....