Some analysts have blamed Australian regulators for dealing with businesses of little importance for far too long. Now, they have been optimistic that the situation is starting to change considering the ongoing investigations and inquiries of the Crown Resorts’ casino business.
The shares of the Australian casino giant Crown Resorts fell by 8.2% yesterday after the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) confirmed it started an investigation into the company’s practices related to high-risk patrons of its Melbourne casino. Apart from that, the gambling operator has been subject to a probe regarding its suitability to hold an operating licence for its planned Barangaroo casino in Sydney. The investigation started some local media hubs had published several articles regarding the high-roller operations of Crown Resorts.
Previously, in 2017, the AUSTRAC held a massive case against Tabcorp Holdings, which had to pay a financial penalty of AU$45 million. In 2018, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia had to pay AU$700 million for some transgressions, while in September 2020 the AUSTRAC inked a settlement with Westpack Banking Corp that was worth AU$1.3-billion.
Considering the ongoing probe into Crown Resorts’ operations, this is quite a bit of a change. For most of its existence, AUSTRAC has pretty much kept a low profile, mostly investigating database of suspicious transactions that were brought to it by compliance officers and it was not known for any aggressive law enforcement actions.
AUSRAC Ges More Engaged with Larger-Scale Businesses; Starts Investigation in Crown Resorts
According to a Bloomberg analyst, David Fickling, AUSTRAC has to become more engaged with businesses of a larger scale, especially considering the fact that money laundering is usually associated with large transactions of physical or digital cash. In other words, Mr Fickling believes that regulatory bodies have to be more focused on the activities of the companies that usually trade the biggest volumes of such assets, with these companies usually being casinos operators and financial businesses.
This opinion has been backed by the independent anti-money laundering consultant John Chevis, who explained that, until recently, watchdogs were somehow timid when it comes to enforcement of measures on the industry they had been supposed to monitor and control.
Analysts insist that despite its probe into Crown Resorts’ operations, the AUSTRAC agency should be more aggressive in law enforcement, especially considering the fact that the 2019 media reports have not been the first ones regarding money laundering branches in the Australian casino giant. Back in 2017, the independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie alarmed that members of casino staff exploited loopholes in order to circumvent the requirement to disclose reportable money transactions to the financial-crimes regulatory body. These claims were denied by Crown Resorts at the time.
Mr Fickling from Bloomberg says that collaboration with other agencies would probably be helpful in the regulation of gambling operators, financial companies and other major market players. The number of reports for suspicions transactions received by AUSTRAC has increased more than three times over the past five years, while the agency’s funding has increased only by about one-third.
- Author
Olivia Cole
