The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre announced a lawsuit on Nov. 20 accusing it of breaching money-laundering laws more than 23 million times. (Commonwealth Bank’s CEO Ian Narev resigned over that scandal and the bank settled in 2018, agreeing to pay a record A$700 million fine.) A few heads have rolled -- most prominently the CEOs and chairmen of National Australia Bank Ltd. and wealth manager AMP Ltd. The government also took advantage of public anger to pass a bank levy in 2017 that will cost the big four lenders and Macquarie Group Ltd. A$6.2 billion ($4.4 billion) over four years. On top of that, the central bank has cut interest rates to record lows, squeezing margins.

Source: Washington Post November 27, 2019 08:48 UTC