Legal charges against the disgraced Westpac continue accumulating with the second U.S. class-action lawsuit against the lender in a week over its financial crime monitoring.
Investor rights law firm Bernstein Liebhard filed the suit on behalf of investors that bought Westpac securities and accuse Australia’s second-largest lender of not carrying out appropriate due diligence regarding transactions in Southeast Asia and the Philippines alongside the failure to monitor terrorism financing risks.
This occurs just days after U.S.-based Rosen Law Firm also filed a lawsuit naming former chief executive Brian Hartzer and interim chief executive Peter King as defendants. Meanwhile, Westpac appointed former Barclays boss John McFarlane as its chairman to navigate the bank through the scandal.
Westpac was sued by Australia’s financial crime regulator AUSTRAC in November for 23 million alleged breaches of anti-money laundering which has subsequently opened a floodgate of legal challenge elsewhere. The bank initially attempted to appease to its shareholders by making refunds to those who bought stock two weeks before the charges were made but the efforts have apparently backfired and resulted in lawsuits.
