(Reuters) – Afterpay Ltd said on Wednesday that Australia’s financial crime watchdog will not take further action against the buy-now-pay-later firm after considering an external auditor report that found it was a low risk for money laundering.
The decision by AUSTRAC, the regulator, formally ends an audit process it ordered https://reut.rs/3lK4kSh more than a year ago to look into whether Afterpay was breaching anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CTF) laws.
The external audit report was handed over in November last year, which Afterpay said found that it was a “low-risk business” for money laundering.
“AUSTRAC has considered the Final Audit Report and Afterpay’s response to the findings and has decided it will not be taking any further regulatory action,” Afterpay said in a statement.
AUSTRAC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Afterpay on Wednesday said it has since beefed up its compliance frameworks.
Chairwoman Elana Rubin said the decision “provides the Company and its stakeholders with certainty and acknowledges the work the Company has undertaken to strengthen its AML/CTF compliance.”
“The external audit provided Afterpay with the opportunity to better understand our obligations and to improve the way we manage our AML/CTF risks,” she added.
(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)
