ASIC ordered to hand over interviews of Westpac staff in Ausgrid insider trading case

A court has ordered ASIC to hand over its confidential interviews with 26 current and former Westpac staff ahead of the Ausgrid insider trading case.

ASIC has been ordered to hand over interviews of 26 current and former Westpac staff. Sarah Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

The corporate regulator has been ordered to hand over transcripts of 26 current and former Westpac employees as the battle over the bank’s alleged Ausgrid insider trading case heats up.

Justice Michael Lee ordered lawyers for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to hand over the 65 transcripts to Westpac as the bank prepares to file its defence in the Ausgrid case.

The orders made by the judge capture 18 voluntary transcripts made by 10 witnesses, with the remainder made by those compelled to speak to ASIC.

The court heard ASIC had been investigating the 2016 insider trading case as far back as 2018 before it served Westpac with papers on May 5.

Westpac had not been presented the transcripts as ASIC had maintained their content was confidential to its investigations.

But lawyers for Westpac said they needed to see “what current or former employees have said”.

ASIC had alleged Westpac engaged in insider trading as part of executive the $12bn interest rate swap transaction with a consortium of AustralianSuper and a group of IFM entities.

The regulator alleges the bank withheld key information from the market that it would be executing the transaction.

ASIC alleges the bank started trading on the knowledge that it had signed the agreement with the NSW government for the acquisition of Ausgrid before the rest of the market was alerted.

ASIC had claimed Westpac traders Nicholas Allen, Benjamin Mitchell and Shane Dorman were allegedly in possession of information regarding Ausgrid which “would have a material effect on the price or value of the traded products”.

Westpac’s then head of its fixed income desk Simon Masnick and institutional bank chief executive Lyn Cobley and managing director Michael Correra were also alleged to have been in possession of the insider information.

Justice Lee ordered Westpac to return its response to ASIC to the court by July 2 with the full hearing set down for February 7 2022.