Money Laundering Scam of Common Wealth Bank of Australia

Money laundering
scam of Common
Wealth Bank of
Australia

Executive Summary
In this report an analysis is done over the scandal done by Common Wealth Bank of Australia
by breaching the Anti-money laundering laws. The bank has to face severe allegations by
AUSTRAC that is financial regulatory authority of Australia. CBA has to give the penalty
because of its unethical and irresponsible behaviour. The analysis will be done over the
impact on public image of the company after accused by the government authorities.
After analyse the case study of CBA, the impact of this scandal over the company and the
public is described. The applications of the ethical theories with respect to the case are
described. The importance of ethical practices is also analysed in this report. In the end,
conclusion is derived on the bases of the study of the case. Some recommendations are made
for the well-being of the business of the companies and for the society by maintain ethical
standards inside the organisations.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Ethical issues recognised in CBA..............................................................................................4
Anti-money laundering laws of Australia..................................................................................5
The ethical theories related to the case......................................................................................6
The impact on the CBA after using unethical practices.............................................................6
The impact on the society and public.........................................................................................7
Justification by CBA for breaching the laws.............................................................................7
The role of company culture and ethics.....................................................................................8
The CSR activities done by CBA...............................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations......................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
In this report an analysis will be done over the ethical issues faced by Common Wealth Bank
of Australia related to the breach of anti-money laundering laws in 2018. The violation of
regulations, laws and using unethical practices by CBA is described in the report. The impact
of using unethical practices over the business of the CBA and its public image is also
scrutinised in the end. The focus is also provided over the consequences of using unethical,
immoral and illegal practices for the benefit of business.
Common Wealth Bank of Australia is one of the major banks of the country which is dealing
with financial management and investment management of the clients. The bank is providing
a large variety of financial products including saving accounts, business accounts, home
loans, car loans, debit cards, credit cards, insurance schemes, mutual funds and other
financial services related to the financial management of the clients (Bank, 2020).
CBA is working along with 51,000 employees and around 16.6 million customers across 11
countries including China, UK, Japan, New Zealand and USA (bank, 2020). According to the
financial report of 2017, Bank has total revenue of around 45 billion Australian dollars. The
total asset of bank is around Australian $976 billion which makes it largest Australian
company (Bank, 2020).