Commonwealth Bank CEO Ian Narev to depart

News of CBA CEO’s departure comes as bank faces court action launched by AUSTRAC

Commonwealth Bank of Australia CEO Ian Narev will leave CBA by the end of FY18.

The chair of the bank’s board, Catherine Livingstone, this morning announced details of the CEO’s departure. The exact timing will depend on the “outcome of an ongoing comprehensive internal and external search process,” Livingstone said in a statement.

“Succession planning is an ongoing process at all levels of the Bank.  In discussions with Ian we have also agreed it is important for the business that we deal with the speculation and questions about his tenure. Today’s statement provides that clarity and will ensure he can continue to focus, as CEO, on successfully managing the business.”

Narev’s impending departure comes as the bank faces accusations of failing to meet its obligations under Australia’s anti-money-laundering rules.

AUSTRAC, which enforces the anti-money-laundering regime, has launched Federal Court action against the bank.

The bank has blamed a “coding error” for a failure to generate mandatory reports relating to large cash deposits made using its Intelligent Deposit Machines (IDMs).

AUSTRAC has said that CBA failed to report 53,506 “threshold transactions” — transactions involving $10,000 or more — between 5 November 2012 and 1 September 2015.

“Suspected money laundering was conducted through CommBank accounts, by way of cash deposits, many through IDMs, followed immediately by international and domestic transfers,” an AUSTRAC court filing states.

CBA has been accused of failing to report suspicious matters either on time or at all involving transactions totalling over $77 million.

The bank has said that when the IDMs were first rolled out, the correct threshold transaction reports (TTRs) were generated. However after a software update “a coding error occurred which meant the IDMs did not create the TTRs needed.”

Earlier this month CBA reported statutory net profit after tax of $9.93 billion for the full year, up 7.6 per cent, and cash net NPAT of $9.88 billion, up 4.6 per cent.  The Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s IT services expenses hit $1.94 billion in the 12 months ending 30 June, the bank reported.

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