Australian bank revokes CEO’s bonus after claims of thousands of legal breaches
Melbourne — On Tuesday, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) scrapped its CEO’s bonus for damaging the bank’s reputation amid allegations it broke money-laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, but said he retained the board’s confidence. Last week, Australia’s financial intelligence agency accused the bank of roughly 53,700 breaches, launching a civil court action that could result in the country’s biggest lender fined several billion dollars. The case is the largest of its kind in Australian corporate history, and sent CBA shares sliding for their biggest one-day decline in 18 months on Friday. The CBA’s board said on Tuesday that it had cut short-term bonuses to zero for the CEO, Ian Narev, and other top executives for the year to June 30 2017. "In reaching this conclusion the overriding consideration of the board was the collective accountability of senior management for the overall reputation of the group," chairperson Catherine Livingstone said in a statement. The accu...
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