November 5, 2020 - The court issued an amended order preliminarily approving the settlement.

October 19, 2020 - The court preliminarily approved the settlement.

October 6, 2020 - A stipulation and agreement of settlement was entered by the parties.

August 20, 2020 - The court was notified that a settlement in principle in this case was reached.

January 30, 2020 - An investor in shares of Westpac Banking Corporation (NYSE: WBK) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Westpac Banking Corporation in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements made between November 11, 2015 and November 19, 2019.

Australia based Westpac Banking Corporation provides various banking and financial services in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Pacific region, and internationally. Westpac Banking Corporation reported that its Total Revenue declined from over $2.15 billion AUD for the 12 months period that ended on September 30, 2018 to over 20.63 billion AUD for the 12 months period that ended on September 30, 2019 and that its Net Income over those time periods declined from over 8.09 billion AUD to over 6.78 billion AUD.

On November 19, 2019, Westpac Banking Corporation was charged by the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (“AUSTRAC”) with over 23 million violations of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (the “AML-CTF Act”). Among other things, AUSTRAC’s Statement of Claim contends that the Company failed to distinguish money laundering or risky payments to and from Southeast Asia indicative of child sexual exploitation, despite Westpac senior management being “specifically briefed” in 2016 on how the bank’s international digital payments service could be at risk for such abuse. Shares of Westpac Banking Corporation (NYSE: WBK) declined from 20.56 per share on September 12, 2019 to as low as $16.31 per share on November 26, 2019.

According to the complaint the plaintiff alleges on behalf of purchasers of Westpac Banking Corporation (NYSE: WBK) common shares between November 11, 2015 and November 19, 2019, that the defendants violated Federal Securities Laws. More specifically, the plaintiff claims that between November 11, 2015 and November 19, 2019, the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that contrary to Australian law, the Company failed to report over 19.5 million international funds transfer instructions to AUSTRAC, Australia’s anti money-laundering and terrorism financing regulator, that the Company did not appropriately monitor and assess the ongoing money laundering and terrorism financing risks associated with movement of money into and out of Australia, that the Company did not pass on requisite information about the source of funds to other banks in the transfer chain, that despite being aware of the heightened risks, the Company did not carry out appropriate due diligence on transactions in South East Asia and the Philippines that had known financial indicators relating to child exploitation risks, that the Company’s AML/CTF Program was inadequate to identify, mitigate and manage money laundering and terrorism financing risks, and that as a result, defendants’ statements about its business, operations, and prospects, were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times.