西太平洋銀行(Westpac Banking Corp, Westpac)是一家成立超過200年的銀行,曾經十年榮登「道瓊永續指數銀行業領導者」冠軍寶座,被譽為全球最永續的銀行,然而,由於股東在2018年的股東大會不滿董監薪酬而爆發股東罷工事件,使得西太平洋銀行的公司治理聲譽下滑,此外,西太平洋銀行被澳大利亞的金管會-澳大利亞交易報告和分析中心(AUSTRAC)在2019年11月20日指控系統性違反《反洗錢和反恐融資法》高達2300萬次,澳大利亞法院將在2020年2月下旬或2020年3月初舉行聽證會。它山之石可以攻錯,全球最永續的銀行西太平洋銀行付上慘痛的代價,全球的金融業應引以為鑑。台灣在2019年亞太防制洗錢組織(APG)的評鑑中獲得最高評等「一般追蹤」等級,特別在金融科技發達的時代,科技犯罪手法不斷更新,各金融機構要與時俱進,才能防範未然,銀行才能永續經營。
Westpac Banking Corp (Westpac) is a bank that has been established for more than 200 years. Because Westpac had won the leadership of "Dow Jones Sustainability Index Banking Industry Leader" for ten years, it is regarded as the most sustainable bank in the world. However, due to the shareholder's dissatisfaction with the remuneration of the board of directors at the general shareholders meeting in 2018, the shareholder strike broke out, which made the reputation of corporate governance of Westpac bank decline. In addition, Westpac was accused up to 23 million times of systematic violations of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (AML/CTF) by Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) on November 20, 2019. Australian courts will hold hearings in late February 2020 or early March 2020. The most sustainable bank in the world, Westpac bank, has paid a heavy price for breaking AML/CTF, therefore, the global financial industry should learn the lesson from it. Taiwan won the highest rating of "general tracking" in the evaluation of The Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) in 2019. In the era of fintech development, the fintech crimes are constantly advancing. Banking industry need to build up the mechanism for AML/CTF overtime for sustainable development.