Australia’s markets watchdog sued HSBC Bank of Australia Ltd for failing to protect clients who lost millions of dollars in scams.
HSBC received about 950 reports of unauthorized transactions between January 2020 and August this year, resulting in customer losses of about A$23 million (US$14.61 million), an Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) statement released yesterday said.
About A$16 million of this occurred in the six months from October last year to March, the statement said.
Photo: Reuters
“ASIC alleges HSBC Australia failed to have adequate controls in place to prevent and detect unauthorized payments and failed to comply with its obligations to investigate customer reports of unauthorized transactions within the specified time frames required, and to promptly reinstate their banking services in a timely manner,” the statement said.
The bank on average took 145 days to investigate client reports that they had been scammed, it said, adding that HSBC Australia’s failings were widespread and systemic.
“We are considering the matters raised and will continue to co-operate and work constructively with ASIC,” a spokesperson for HSBC said in an email. “Protecting our customers from scammers remains a top priority. We continue to make significant investments in our fraud and scam prevention, detection and response.”
Separately, Entain PLC, the gambling company that owns Ladbrokes, said that Australia’s anti-money laundering regulator had opened civil penalty proceedings against the group’s local subsidiary following a two-year investigation.
A fine as a result of the federal court case could be “potentially material” and the company is carefully considering the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre’s filings, Entain said in a statement.
The regulator announced the probe, looking at whether the company had broken laws requiring it to identify and stop money laundering and terrorist financing on its platform, into Entain’s Australian unit in September 2022.
“We are committed to keeping financial crime out of gambling and continue to play our part in supporting a well-regulated and compliant sector for our customers, stakeholders and the wider community,” Entain chief executive officer Gavin Isaacs said in the statement.
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
Handset camera lens maker Largan Precision Co (大立光) on Sunday reported a 6.71 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for the third quarter, despite revenue last month hitting the highest level in 11 months. Third-quarter revenue was NT$17.68 billion (US$581.2 million), compared with NT$18.95 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement. The figure was in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$17.9 billion, but missed the market consensus estimate of NT$18.97 billion. The third-quarter revenue was a 51.44 percent increase from NT$11.67 billion in the second quarter, as the quarter is usually the peak
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS