Westpac and ASIC reach agreement on six regulatory matters

ASX
Release



30 November 2021

Westpac and ASIC reach agreement on six regulatory matters
Westpac has announced today that it has reached agreement with ASIC to resolve six separate
longstanding matters through agreed civil penalty proceedings filed in the Federal Court of Australia.
The issues have all been previously disclosed and are summarised in the table below.
These matters follow regulatory investigations conducted by ASIC, many instigated following the
issues being self-reported by Westpac, including some which were raised during the Royal
Commission.
The majority of affected customers have been compensated, and any remaining payments will be
completed as quickly as possible.

Westpac CEO, Peter King, said: “As flagged, we have been working to resolve a number of
outstanding regulatory matters before the Bank. We have cooperated with ASIC through the
investigations and the process to get to this resolution today.”
“This outcome is an important step forward for us as we continue to fix issues and build stronger risk
foundations.
“In each of these matters, Westpac has fallen short of our standards and the standards our customers
expect of us. The issues raised in these matters should not have occurred, and our processes,
systems and monitoring should have been better. We are putting things right and unreservedly
apologise to our customers,” Mr King said.
Westpac and ASIC will jointly submit agreed proposed penalties for each of the proceedings, totalling
$113 million. These penalties are subject to court approval and have been substantially provisioned
(together with anticipated legal costs) in Westpac’s Full Year 2021 results. Westpac and ASIC have
also prepared Statements of Agreed Facts for each matter.
Westpac will continue to work cooperatively with ASIC to resolve the proceedings as quickly as
possible.
Ends.
For further information:

David Lording Andrew Bowden
Group Head of Media Relations Head of Investor Relations
0419 683 411 0438 284 863
This document has been authorised for release by Tim Hartin, General Manager & Company Secretary.
Level 18, 275 Kent Street
Sydney, NSW, 2000

Table 1. List of matters agreed between Westpac and ASIC.
Matter Name

Overview
Debt Sales

Investigation into the provision of incorrect interest rate information provided by Westpac to debt
purchasers.
Deceased Estates

Investigation into the charging of advice related fees to deceased customer accounts.
General Insurance

Investigation into the incorrect issuing of duplicate general insurance policies (home and
contents and landlord insurance policies) without a customer’s consent.
Contribution Fees

Investigation into inadequate disclosure of adviser fees received for certain super & investment
products.
Deregistered Companies

Investigation into the process for identification and management of deregistered companies,
and the subsequent rectification.
Insurance in Super

Investigation into insurance in superannuation products offered by BT where customers were
inadvertently charged additional advisor commissions.