ASIC has announced that it too will investigate CBA for failing to comply with continuous disclosure rules relating to its money laundering scandal. From The ABC:
ASIC chairman Greg Medcraft said the corporate regulator would investigate whether the CBA’s board complied with continuous disclosure laws when it decided not to alert investors to the suspicious behaviour.
Earlier this week, CBA chairwoman Catherine Livingstone said the bank’s board first became aware the intelligent deposit machines were at risk of being targeted by criminal elements including money launderers in the second half of 2015.
Speaking to a parliamentary joint committee in Sydney this morning, Mr Medcraft said ASIC would look specifically at whether the CBA’s officers and directors complied with their disclosure duties under the Corporations Act.
“I wanted to inform the committee that ASIC has commenced inquiries into this matter and any consequences this matter has for the laws we administer,” Mr Medcraft said.
Mr Medcraft said the probe would examine whether the CBA complied with their licensing obligations, “to act efficiently, honestly and fairly” in line with a requirement to report potential liabilities.
Chief executive Ian Narev has rejected criticism the bank’s board should have informed investors as soon as it became aware of the gravity of the money-laundering allegations.
“In an organisation of this size there are individual items that come to the attention of board and management from regulators and others all the time,” Mr Narev told the ABC on Wednesday.
“We shouldn’t and can’t be in a situation where we could disclose every time anything comes to our attention. That would end up being very confusing to the market.”
More grist for the banking Royal Commission mill.
