“We accept that we have fallen short of both our own and regulators’ standards and are determined to get all the facts and assess accountability,"Mr Maxsted said.
“In the interim,the board has determined that either all or part of the grant of the 2019 short-term variable reward will be withheld for the full executive team and several members of the general management team subject to the assessment of accountability,"he said.
The bank has been accused of breaching anti-money laundering laws 23 million times,and of failing to adequately vet thousands of payments potentially linked to child exploitation.
As he firmly backed embattled chief executive Brian Hartzer,Mr Maxsted pointed to actions it was taking in response to the crisis. It has closed LitePay,the product allegedly used for child exploitation payments;it has vowed to improve screening of payments;and it set up a financial crime board sub-committee.
Westpac also said it would invest $25 million in data sharing to fight financial crime and make the financial crime function a direct report to the chief risk officer. It said any transactions that suggest potential child exploitation in high-risk areas would be prioritised and reported to AUSTRAC in 24 hours,which it said was faster than required.
With politicians including Prime Minister Scott Morrison andTreasurer Josh Frydenberg demanding accountability from the bank and its board,Mr Maxsted said there had already been some accountability for the failings relating to mis-reporting of payments.
He said these failings were"a major part of why Brian Hartzer got no variable pay for the year to September 2019,they are why other group executives had some specific deductions".