Westpac's CEO cited risk and operational worries for avoiding deposit machines which are at the heart of the Commonwealth Bank's money laundering scandal.
Westpac conducted a trial of «intelligent deposit machines» capable of accepting large cash deposits, which are at the heart of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's (CBA) money laundering scandal, but dumped them because of risk and operational reasons.
The scandal has cost CBA chief executive Ian Narev his job and saw his bonus cut to zero, his bank is currently searching for his replacement as he will be eased out by mid 2018.
Millions Laundered
Facing questions over how banks dealt with money laundering risks through their ATM networks, Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer said the bank had trialled a small number of intelligent deposit machines (IDMs).
The Commonwealth Bank's IDMs, capable of accepting cash deposits of up to $20,000, were allegedly used by criminal gangs to launder millions of dollars, according to the financial intelligence agency Austrac. Much of the cash found its way into Asia alerting regional regulators.
«We did experiment with some of those machines. We've since removed them all,» Hartzer said before the House of Representatives economics committee in Canberra.
Hartzer and ANZ Bank chief executive Shayne Elliott were questioned about the commercial objectives banks face in setting limits on ATM cash transactions. Both CEO's said they were complying with ant-money laundering laws, and they had settled on lower limits than CBA for risk and other reasons.
