US ratings agency out with a note on the beleaguered Aussie bank 18 Aug
- the Australian authorities' recent proceedings against Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA; AA-/Stable/aa-) for "serious and systemic" non-compliance with Australia's anti-money laundering laws are credit negative for the company
- however, any negative rating action would most likely be driven by a broader reassessment of the bank's risk management framework and corporate culture, and/or by the extent of any lasting franchise damage caused rather than from any sanctions imposed via the civil proceedings.
Fitch say that they:
- expect to be in a better position to judge the significance of the issues once the bank lodges its legal defence. A key question for Fitch is whether the evidence points to limited control failings that have largely been remedied or if it appears that the failings are more widespread and/or indicative of weaknesses in corporate culture.
- evidence of widespread failings would be likely to have negative implications for the ratings or outlook even if the bank suggests that these have been fixed or are in the process of being fixed.
We had the original story here
Full report from Fitch here
AUDUSD currently flat-lined at 0.7895. Seems to be some decent sell interest at 0.7900 capping the rally from 0.7870
CBA facing serious and systemic" non-compliance proceedings
