Commonwealth Bank Blames Coding Error for Money-Laundering Suit
- Software glitch went undetected for almost three years
- Opposition Labor party renews calls for banking inquiry
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Commonwealth Bank of Australia has blamed a software coding error for more than 50,000 alleged breaches of money-laundering and terrorist-financing laws.
The error went undetected for almost three years, the Sydney-based bank said in its first detailed response after being sued Aug. 3 by the country’s financial crime agency. Austrac alleged the bank failed to report on time or at all suspicious transactions totaling more than A$624 million ($497 million). The bank also failed to monitor suspected money laundering even after being alerted by law enforcement agencies, Austrac claimed.