MBA632: Analysis of Knowledge Management at Westpac Bank

This report examines the contemporary ethical issue of privacy and confidentiality in knowledge management, using Westpac Bank as a case study. The report begins with an introduction to the issue, highlighting the importance of privacy and confidentiality in the banking sector and the legal obligations, such as the Privacy Act 1993. It discusses the organization's background, emphasizing its role as a major financial institution in Australia. The core of the report focuses on the money-laundering scandal involving Westpac, where breaches of anti-money laundering laws occurred, leading to significant financial penalties and reputational damage. The report then explores current initiatives and developments undertaken by Westpac to address the issues, including changes in leadership and discussions with regulatory bodies. The challenges and implications of these issues are analyzed, emphasizing the importance of knowledge management practices in preventing ethical breaches, such as money laundering, and maintaining customer trust. The report concludes by underscoring the critical role of effective knowledge management in upholding ethical standards and ensuring the long-term success of financial institutions like Westpac.

Running head: KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The aim of this paper will be to prepare a discussion paper on the present contemporary issues
that are related to the knowledge management, based on Westpac Bank, the financial institution
from Australia. The selected issue related to the knowledge management is privacy and
confidentiality, which can be treated as one of the main issues that can arise in the banking and
financial sectors. An introduction of the issue will be given in this paper, along with the
summary of the present initiatives and developments in relation with the selected issue. The
issues and challenges that are currently arising or may arise in future will also be addressed in
this paper.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
About the Organization....................................................................................................................3
Privacy and Confidentiality.............................................................................................................4
Importance of Knowledge Management.........................................................................................4
Introduction of the Issue..................................................................................................................5
Current Initiatives and Developments.............................................................................................6
Issues and Challenges......................................................................................................................7
Implications of Knowledge Management Practice..........................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference.......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The purpose of this paper will be to prepare a discussion paper on the present
contemporary issues that are related to the knowledge management, based on the organization of
Westpac Bank. The selected issue related to the knowledge management is privacy and
confidentiality, which can be treated as one of the main issues that can arise in the banking and
financial sectors. An introduction of the issue will be given in this paper, along with the
summary of the present initiatives and developments in relation with the selected issue. The
issues and challenges that are currently arising or may arise in future will also be addressed in
this paper. The issue selected will be the money-laundering case that has breached by the
management of Westpac Banking Corporation 23 million times, the details of which will be
discussed in this paper.
About the Organization
Westpac Banking Corporation, in this context, can be said to be an organization from
banking and financial sector and operates in the region of Australia. The organization was
founded in the year of 1817, and is based in Sydney. This financial service provider was formed
by merger of two banks, which are Bank of New South Wales and Commercial Bank of
Australia. Westpac Banking Corporation is regarded as one of the Big Four banking institutions
from the market place of Australia. They are also treated as first as well as the oldest banking
company. There are more than 1,200 branches and 3,200 ATMs. The products that are offered by
this financial institution are finance and insurance, corporate banking, investment management,
investment banking, private equity, credit cards, global wealth management and mortgages
(westpac.com.au 2020).

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Privacy and Confidentiality
It can be noted in this context that privacy and confidentiality is one of the most
important factors that are required to perform the banking operations by a financial institution
like Westpac Banking Corporation. The business houses of this sector need to deal with lots of
information and data of the customers along with other documents that are used to operate
various kinds of business operations. It can be said that it is the legal duty of the management of
these financial institutions to protect the confidential data and information of the old as well as
new customers. They also falls under legal obligations, precisely under Privacy Act 1993. This
act includes 12 principles related with safeguarding of the personal information of the customers.
These principles are designed to govern the collections of the banks along with the storage of the
customer information. Thus, it can be stated that the first and foremost duty of the financial
institutions like Westpac Banking Corporation to safeguard all the data and information of the
customers in order to avoid any legal issues, which will hamper the flow of the business
operations along with hampering the brand image of the organization, which will led in decrease
in customer database and market share, which will directly impact adversely on the profit
earning of Westpac Banking Corporation. If privacy and confidentiality is not followed ethically,
then issues like money-laundering and hacking the data and information will arise, which will
possess a severe effect on the overall flow of the business operations that are performed by the
banking institutions (Steiger, Hammou and Galib 2014).
Importance of Knowledge Management
Knowledge management, in this context, can be stated as a system that enables the people
to access, share and update business information and knowledge in a particular organization. For
example, departments like Human Resource, Information and Technology, Marketing and

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Finance are the departments which are benefitted through this system. Knowledge management
can be used through various forms, which helps to maintain the flow of the business operations
of the business entities ethically and efficiently. Lots of benefits can be achieved by the help of
this system. Receipt of the information makes faster within the working culture of the
organizations like Westpac Banking Corporation. Less mistakes also occurs if the system of
knowledge management is followed properly by the people who are using it. Less time is also
spent on the knowledge which is already present within the office operations, and employees can
more focus on the individual work, which will help to improve the productivity of the employees
as well as of the company for which they are working. Informed decisions can also be performed
when the employees share their learned lessons and experiences, and a clear flow can be made in
the business operation of those companies. A standardized process can also be performed with
maintaining the documents and information efficiently, so that it can be shared between the
employees when required. At last, the most important factor for which the importance of
knowledge management can be felt is the services that are provided to the customers. This plays
an integral role for the service provider organizations like Westpac Banking Corporation, where
the main business stands on the kind of services that are provided by the management of the
business houses to their customers. Thus, it can be said that knowledge management plays an
important part in the banking and financial companies like Westpac Banking Corporation
(Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal 2014).
Introduction of the Issue
From the news that was published in the Insurance Journal on 22nd November in the year
2019, it has been found that Westpac Banking Corporation was involved in money laundering
issues, which breached the laws related to money-laundering, and included failing of detecting

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payments which are linked to child abusing (Australia's Westpac Bank Apologizes for Money
Laundering, Links to Child Abuse Funds 2020). Breach in the system has occurred mainly due to
the inefficiency of the senior management along with some of the employees. Since this,
Westpac Banking Corporation came under fire from pension funds, politicians and shareholder
groups. This has become a serious issue, as the lives of many children were affected due to this
money-laundering case. Employees along with the other people who are associated with this
organization got hugely affected with this issue, and their loves were in turmoil. It has been
found by the researchers that the leaders were also involved in this money-laundering case,
which hampered the code of ethics related with privacy and confidentiality in the context of
knowledge management.
From another news that was published in The Conversation, it can be seen that the
organization of Westpac Banking Corporation are set to overcome the biggest banking institution
of Australia, the Commonwealth Bank in terms of paying the heaviest fine in the corporate
history of Australia and not in terms of earnings, assets or market capitalization. It has been
found that the laws related with anti-money laundering context has been breached 23 million
times by the management of this institution, and each of these breaches possess a penalty that
may rise up to A$63,000 (How Westpac is alleged to have broken anti-money laundering laws
23 million times 2020). Thus, it can be said that the total amount that can be potentially fined
may rise up to A$1 trillion. The management of Westpac Banking Corporation though possess
the option of bargaining to lower the penalty amount, and the same thing has been performed by
the management of Commonwealth Bank, which is regarded as the biggest banking institution.
This banking institution also involved in failing to understand as well as monitor the transactions

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of money from their accounts to small intermediary banks located in the nations where terrorist
organizations are known to operate globally.
Current Initiatives and Developments
It can be said in this context that initiatives has been taken by the management of
Westpac Banking Corporation to come out from this issue and to restore the brand image of the
organization. They changed the leadership in some parts of the organizations, as it has been
found leadership skills were also accused in this money-laundering case. Providing financial
power to the nations where there is the presence of terrorism or terrorism activities has led to
question the skills and abilities of the leaders and this prompted the higher management to
change some of the people as the leaders (Tebaa, Zkik and El Hajji 2015). Apart from this,
Westpac Banking Corporation started discussion with The Australian Transaction Reports and
Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) to take remedial actions in restoring the financial position of the
bank in the market places where they are operating along with retaining the customers. Relevant
or proper Westpac Australian Cash Management Product has been chosen by the management of
this financial institution, which is a technological platform to report the international fund
transfer to AUSTRAC. The LitePay international fund transfer system has also been closed by
Westpac Banking Corporation, where low value international payments were performed by this
financial institution.
Issues and Challenges
The major issue that arise due to practising the unethical and illegal practices by some of
the people is the hampering the brand imaged of the organization in the market places where they
operate. As they were involved in providing financial power to those nations where there is

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presence of terrorism or terrorism activities, it became a global issue and pressures were building
to take serious actions by the management of this financial institution. Sentiments of all the
people associated with this organization were came into forefront and it became a serious issue
and challenge to bring back the old culture along with brand image and brand loyalty of the
organization, for which they were popular among the people in the market of Australia.
Remittance firms were closed by Westpac Banking Corporation in order to lower the issue
regarding money laundering and counter-terrorism finance. To regain the faith of the customers
as well as the previous position became a serious issue to the management of this financial
company, and they faced a series of challenges to maintain the same flow of operations that they
used to enjoy before facing the money-laundering case (Al-Bahussin and El-Garaihy 2013).
Implications of Knowledge Management Practice
In this context, it can be said that knowledge management practices has the power
overcome the issues that were faced by the management of this organization. It can be noted that
lots of benefits can be achieved by implementation of this system to avoid this kind of unethical
practices which has been faced by Westpac Banking Corporation. Less mistakes would have
occurred if the system of knowledge management has been followed properly by the
management of this financial institution. The management would have taken formed decisions if
the employees shared their learned lessons and experiences through the individual tasks that
were performed by them, and a clear flow can be made in the business operation of this financial
institution. A standardized process would also has been performed by the management with
maintaining the documents and information related to fund transfer efficiently and ethically, so
that it can be shared between the employees when required and would have reduced the chances
of issues like money-laundering and financing the activities related to terrorism.

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Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be stated that knowledge management plays an
important role in maintaining the privacy and confidentiality issues in financial organizations
like Westpac Banking Corporation.

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Reference
Al-Bahussin, S.A. and El-Garaihy, W.H., 2013. The impact of human resource management
practices, organisational culture, organisational innovation and knowledge management on
organisational performance in large Saudi organisations: structural equation modeling with
conceptual framework. International Journal of Business and management, 8(22), p.1.
Australia's Westpac Bank Apologizes for Money Laundering, Links to Child Abuse Funds.
(2020). Retrieved 12 February 2020, from
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2019/11/22/549280.htm
Becerra-Fernandez, I. and Sabherwal, R., 2014. Knowledge management: Systems and
processes. Routledge.
Home. (2020). Retrieved 11 February 2020, from https://www.westpac.com.au/
How Westpac is alleged to have broken anti-money laundering laws 23 million times. (2020).
Retrieved 12 February 2020, from http://theconversation.com/how-westpac-is-alleged-to-have-
broken-anti-money-laundering-laws-23-million-times-127518
Steiger, J.S., Hammou, K.A. and Galib, M.H., 2014. An examination of the influence of
organizational structure types and management levels on knowledge management practices in
organizations. International Journal of Business and Management, 9(6), p.43.
Tebaa, M., Zkik, K. and El Hajji, S., 2015. Hybrid homomorphic encryption method for
protecting the privacy of banking data in the cloud. International Journal of Security and Its
Applications, 9(6), pp.61-70.