Westpac admits to breaches of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism laws, according to court filings, following regulator charges on facilitating payments between known child sex offenders.

The bank admitted to record-keeping failures, inadequate client due diligence and breaches of corresponding banking obligations, according to a statement. This included over 19 million international transfers between 2013 and 2018 which it failed to report to local regulator AUSTRAC within 10 business days as required by law. 

While admitting to the breaches, the Sydney-headquartered lender denied accusations that it enabled illegal payments between known child sex offenders including in the Philippines.

Westpac has set aside $900 million ($580 million) as an expected fine for the violations.