ANZ Bank Says Review Found "Inadequate" Controls In Opes Crisis

Australia and New Zealand Bank said Thursday that a review of its securities lending business found a series of inadequate controls. In addition, the ANZ said two senior executives would be terminated and a number of others faced punitive measures following the probe of procedures that led to the Opes Prime crisis.

Opes Prime Group was a broker specializing in margin lending. The company, which went under in March, had obtained loans totaling A$616 million from ANZ.

 
 

The bank said it failed to adequately indentify and manage risks involving the securities lending business. In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, the bank said that a "range" of management and operational issues had arisen in the review, with "action involving a number of employees" already taken. Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved