Westpac Braces Annual General Meeting as Money Laundering Scandal Looms 

Investing.com – Shareholders of Australia-listed Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:) will gather at an annual general meeting on Thursday as the bank faces a money laundering scandal.

The bank is likely to suffer a protest vote on pay that would trigger a second ‘strike’ and a vote on whether to put the directors up for re-election. However, reports suggested that the they are expected to avoid being ousted.

Westpac has been accused of breaching money laundering laws more than 23 million times, including failing to detect payments linked to child exploitation. Reports have suggested that the banks’ market capitalization slumped about $5.5 billion due to the incident.

Former Chief Executive Officer Brian Hartzer resigned in November amid pressure over the incident, while Chairman Lindsay Maxsted also announced that he will exit the company next year. It is unclear that whether the next chief executive and chairman will be appointed externally or internally.

Westpac said on Monday this week that it intends to admit a large number of the allegations and is “determined to resolve” the matter with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre.

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