This masthead has interviewed more than one dozen current and former employees working within CBA’s financial crime teams,who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing confidential information. Many have described two classes of employees within department,where contractors are threatened with sudden termination if they fail to meet “rough” key performance indicators (KPIs).
In some cases,staff sought to cut corners to meet targets by copy and pasting text from templates to fill reports sent to AUSTRAC. These staff were sacked immediately after the practice was detected,CBA confirmed.
Compliance with Australia’s money laundering laws has become a critical risk management issue for the big four banks.CBA was fined $700 million in 2018 after a lawsuit from the financial intelligence agency,the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC),alleged systemic breaches of anti-money laundering laws related to ATM machines that failed to set $10,000 limits on cash deposits.
Westpac was fined $1.3 billion and lost its chief executive and chair following a money laundering compliance scandal. And NAB wasrecently put on notice by AUSTRAC about its compliance with money laundering laws.
Since its 2018 fine,CBA has sought to drastically scale up its financial crime capabilities has turned to contracting firms for assistance. All CBA staff are subject to an internal training program that lasts between two and 12 weeks,depending on the role,which multiple current and former staff have described as high quality.
CBA’s financial crime team is largely based in an office in Parramatta in Sydney’s west,but many also have clearance to work from home. The bank uses a technology system to track mouse movement to ensure workers are pro-actively meeting targets.
A CBA spokeswoman said the bank takes financial crime responsibilities seriously and works proactively with local and global regulators,confirming a “small number” of its financial crime team is employed on a contract basis.