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Australia's Westpac loses top two exes in money-laundering scandal
Bank accused of enabling 23m illegal payments as pressure on sector builds.
Australia's Westpac Banking Corp said on Tuesday its CEO will step down and its chairman will bring forward his retirement as a money-laundering scandal rocks the country's second-largest retail bank.
The departures make Westpac the third of Australia's four major banks to lose one or both of its top executives following scandals in a year-and-a-half, underscoring the intense scrutiny on the country's financial sector.
It also demonstrates the power of political and investor pressure on the sector. Since the country's financial crime regulator accused Westpac of enabling 23 million payments in breach of anti-money laundering laws, including between known child exploiters, the prime minister has led calls for the bank's board to weigh the CEO's future.
Westpac's shares edged up 1.2% in early trade on Tuesday, having slumped 8% over the previous four trading days since the regulator announced its lawsuit, wiping A$7.5 billion off the bank's market capitalisation.
"We sought feedback from all our stakeholders including shareholders and having done so it became clear that Board and management changes were in the best interest of the Bank," Westpac Chairman Lindsay Maxsted said in a statement before the start of trading on Tuesday.
Maxsted confirmed he will bring forward his retirement to the first half of 2020.
For chief executive Brian Hartzer, the departure appears to be an abrupt change of course given that the previous day he cancelled end-of-year parties but assured staff "this is not a major issue", according to The Australian newspaper.
In interviews with local media at the weekend, Maxsted had said firing Hartzer during the crisis would be destabilising for the bank.
Hartzer has been with Westpac for more than seven years, taking over as CEO and managing director in 2015.
Chief Financial Officer Peter King, who announced his retirement in September, will now take over as acting CEO of Australia's oldest bank, effective Dec. 2. The bank has an annual general meeting scheduled for Dec. 12.
"I think it's welcome, I think it's appropriate," Health Minister Greg Hunt said on Sky News, minutes after the Westpac announcement. "The prime minister was absolutely clear when these revelations came out that the board had to reflect on the leadership."
Shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers welcomed the departure, which he said "shows that people need to be accountable for the behaviour of companies under their leadership (and) clearly there has been a failure of leadership here".
A Westpac spokesman was not immediately available for a comment on Tuesday.
Hartzer's resignation is the latest in a long line of executive departures from the financial sector, which has been under heavy scrutiny since a bruising public inquiry found rampant profiteering in the industry.
Larger rival Commonwealth Bank of Australia was accused of similar breaches by AUSTRAC in 2017, resulting in a record A$700 million penalty and prompting the bank to bring forward its CEO Ian Narev's retirement.
Financial planner AMP Ltd lost its CEO, chair and several board members during the Royal Commission inquiry over accusations of doctoring a supposedly independent report to a regulator, while wealth manager IOOF Holdings lost its CEO and chair over accusations in the inquiry of improperly using retiree money to prop up investment losses.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Australia-s-Westpac-loses-top-two-exes-in-money-laundering-scandal
Saudi Arabia Arrests At Least 9 'High-Profile' People Despite Jittery IPO Push
Apparently feeling emboldened by the fact that Saudi Arabia suffered zero repercussions over the Oct.3, 2018 state-ordered murder of Jamal Khashoggi, other than crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) briefly being shunned by international elites for a few months, it's business as usual again in the kingdom of horrors.
In a new breaking report, The Wall Street Journal reveals that "Saudi authorities have arrested several high-profile people in recent days, extending an effort to sideline Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s perceived opponents, despite a push to repair the kingdom’s international image to attract investment."
The WSJ counts nine people total arrested in a span of a little more than the past week who are not particularly known for being dissidents or any level of explicitly anti-government activists. They include journalists, intellectuals and businessmen detained since Nov. 16.
What additionally makes these detentions particularly brazen on the part of Riyadh authorities is that it comes just in the final stages of the kingdom preparing for the launch of what most see as the biggest listing in history, Saudi Aramco IPO.
The damning WSJ report hit the same day that Aramco executives met with Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) officials in the UAE to discuss investment options and possibilities in the oil giant's debut share sale, and at a moment the kingdom is desperate to attract a major anchor investor to ensure success.
It appears MbS — no doubt further emboldened by continued support from President Trump even after the Khashoggi affair — realizes a pesky little issue like human rights abuses, including torture of dissidents and continued record pace beheadings and crucifixions, can't stand in the way.
It also looks as if MbS wants to continue to preempt any future possible criticism from within, given the following:
A person familiar with the matter said all of the people arrested in recent days had been identified by the government for writing or speaking in support of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings that toppled a series of Middle Eastern governments.
The 'Arab Spring' of some eight years ago left little impact in Saudi Arabia, though there were reports of sporadic intense protests among the country's restive Shia population in the eastern part of the kingdom. The Saudi military did lend support to the allied Bahraini monarchy by sending tanks across the King Fahd Causeway to crush a popular uprising in the streets there.
Interestingly some among the arrested were intellectuals and human rights organization members who themselves had previously voiced support for and participated in initiatives connected with MbS' reform initiative.
The WSJ reports of others who don't fit the profile of dissidents in any clear way: "Another, prominent philosopher Sulaiman al-Saikhan al-Nasser, participated in government-sponsored cultural initiatives… Also arrested in recent days were Fuad al-Farhan and Musab Fuada, who both started a company that offers business skills training… Abdulaziz al-Hais, is a former journalist who now owns a carpentry business…. Abdulrahman Alshehri is a journalist who has written for domestic and international outlets."
One official with Human Rights Watch (HRW) told the WSJ, “It’s all connected to the same campaign of trying to eliminate independent voices in Saudi society, of going after anyone who could be even mildly critical or independent.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/saudi-arabia-arrests-least-9-high-profile-people-despite-jittery-ipo-push
newfagginess…..