Australia’s largest bank agreed to settle legal action brought against it by the country’s financial services regulator.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia acknowledged it had attempted to engage in «unconscionable conduct», according to a statement on its website released on Wednesday. As a result, the bank agreed to pay A$25 million in penalties and costs to settle a rate-rigging case brought by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The CBA agreement is the first under the bank's new Chief Executive Matt Comyn, and the penalties are half those paid by its rivals. In November 2017, fellow Aussie lenders ANZ and National Australia Bank agreed to pay a collective A$100 million penalty for their involvement in the rigging of overnight bank bill swap rates.
In recent months, CBA faced a succession of scandals, including being hit with contraventions of money-laundering and counter-terrorism laws by Australia's financial intelligence agency Austrac.
