Commonwealth Bank's chair apologised to the bank's shareholders in failing to comply with anti-money laundering laws. The outgoing CEO was also mournful in his final speech.
Against a backdrop of recent strife for the bank as it fights against scandals including a prosecution by the regulator Austrac and the possibility of action from Asian and U.S. regulators, Commonwealth Bank of Australia chair Catherine Livingstone said the allegations of mass anti-money laundering breaches by Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) did not suggest misconduct by staff.
Livingstone and her board colleagues docked their own pay by one-fifth in the current year, which ends next June, as finews.asia reported earlier this year. Australian authorities are looking into so-called intelligent, or automated, deposit machines at the bank which failed to register warnings of potential laundering.
The bank has maintained that an algorithm is to blame for the lapse. As well as the regulatory action CBA has also been served with a class action proceeding filed in the Federal Court of Australia in Melbourne.
Departing CEO Sad but Proud
«As chairman, and on behalf of the board, I apologise sincerely for this deficiency and its consequence,» Livingstone said at the bank's investor meeting in Sydney.
The meeting was also the last AGM for chief executive Ian Narev, who will retire at the end of this financial year. Livingstone said the search for the next CEO was well under way. Narev also issued an apology to shareholders in his opening remarks, saying its response to past problems had at times been too bureaucratic.
Narev said he would leave the role with a mixture of pride and sadness. Livingstone updated CBA shareholders on the search for the next chief executive saying a global hunt for Narev's replacement is well advanced, and that the bank is considering internal candidates, and external candidates from Australia and offshore.
