Westpac head of audit sues bank, alleging she was bullied for blowing whistle on financial crime
Westpac is facing court action from its head of audit and risk, who has alleged she was bullied for blowing the whistle on possible financial crime.
Westpac head of risk and treasury audit Samantha Aitken is suing the bank over claims she was repeatedly stigmatised for blowing the whistle about financial crimes within its mortgage broking arm, RAMS.
In filings lodged with the Federal Court, Ms Aitken alleges she was badged a “troublemaker” after she raised concerns about suspected fraud and other criminal activities within the RAMS Fairfield franchise which were repeatedly ignored by some of Westpac’s most senior executives.
The conduct allegedly comprised of staged wages, document falsification, self-referring of clients and using unaccredited listed referrers. It also implicated lenders employed directly by Westpac and another wholly owned subsidiary of the bank, St George Bank. Ms Aitken, who was head of mortgages at the time in about June 2022, said she asked that Westpac’s investigation team take action against the RAMS Fairfield franchise and other employees implicated in the alleged conduct.
After raising her concerns about the conduct with managing director of RAMS Jake Bromwich, Ms Aitken alleged he “repeatedly deprecated” her by describing her as “someone who was killing his business”.
“The applicant was deprecated, disparaged or stigmatised as a ‘troublemaker’ whose actions improperly, unnecessarily or unreasonably caused damage to the business or interests of the respondent,” she alleges.
A Westpac spokesman said the bank would be defending the case.
“Westpac took appropriate action in 2022 after our risk management controls uncovered issues in some RAMS loan applications. The issues raised were acted upon and Westpac rejects the allegations of breaches of workplace laws,” he said.
Ms Aitken also said she made multiple complaints about the conduct to her immediate manager, Richard Burton, in August 2022.
In the first instance, she allegedly told Mr Burton that Mr Bromwich’s response to the RAMS Fairfield conduct was “inadequate” and that “there were systemic deficiencies within the management, structure and leadership of RAMS” that enabled fraud and other criminal activities.
During a second complaint to Mr Burton, Ms Aitken alleged he dismissed her concerns and told her to get concrete proof of the fraudulent activity.
Ms Aitken claimed she continued to communicate her concerns and in about October 2022 Mr Bromwich declined to participate in a forum conducted by Ms Aitken and her team to discuss their concerns.
She also said she complained about the conduct to Westpac’s group head of accountability, David Innes, and requested an “accountability review” into RAMS, but he declined.
On November 10, 2022, Ms Aitken told Mr Burton she identified 18 RAMS franchises that presented regulatory, reputational and legal risks for Westpac.
The day after, Ms Aitken spoke with Westpac’s then group executive of consumer and business banking, Chris de Bruin, to ask that he order an independent review of RAMS and disclose the fraudulent conduct to Westpac’s board. But Ms Aitken claimed Mr de Bruin responded that she should be “careful what she put in writing, because that would require him to action the matter”.
He also allegedly told her “the matter was not material enough to disclose to the board”.
Ms Aitken later complained to Mr Burton that she had serious concerns about “Mr Bromwich’s approach to risk management and unwillingness to co-operate with the investigation into the RAMS franchises”, but she said he never responded.
“On 18 November 2022, the applicant complained to Mr Burton to the effect that RAMS had a seriously deficient risk culture,” her pleadings state.
Ms Aitken said Mr Bromwich subjected her to “bullying” between August and December 2022, including by regularly complaining to Mr Burton about her.
Mr Bromwich is now the CEO of Beyond Bank.
Ms Aitken also alleged she told Westpac’s head of audit and risk, Rod Skinner, that RAMS franchisees “were engaging in suspicious and potentially illegal behaviour and there was a serious problem with the risk culture within RAMS”.
In response to Mr Skinner escalating Ms Aitken’s concerns, Westpac’s general manager of group audit Scott Kieran “expressed his dissatisfaction that Mr Skinner had involved him in the matter”.
In December 2022, she resigned as head of mortgages and was ultimately told in February last year by Westpac’s general counsel, Nigel Bond, and corporate services executive Chris Green that “no further” information would be provided about Ms Aitken’s concerns to an external law firm conducting a review.
In March, she told Westpac’s chief operating officer, Jonathan Abandowitz, about her concerns but he “dismissed” them.
Ms Aitken said she made two complaints – one verbally in September 2022 and one written complaint in September last year – to Westpac’s whistleblower protection officer Therese O’Neill.
Ms Aitken is seeking compensation for lost income and medical expenses, among other claims.
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