In the wake of a money laundering scandal at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Austrac said it had found no similar lapses of anti-money laundering policies at any of the country's other large lenders.

Australia’s money laundering watchdog found no breaches similar to those discovered at Commonwealth Bank of Australia earlier this month at other big banks, an official said late last week.

Financial crime cop Austrac earlier this month launched a civil lawsuit against CBA – Australia’s largest lender by market value – for “serious and systemic” lapses in its anti-money laundering framework. 

But a check of systems in place at the nation’s other big banks – Westpac, ANZ, and National Australia Bank - failed to highlight any breaches of the same scale. 

“We’ve looked at the other banks in particular and we have not identified the same issues with the other banks,” Peter Clark, Austrac’s acting chief executive, told parliament last week when asked if the body was looking to extend its probe. 

He continued: “Our focus is on the current matter in front of the court. We are intending to prosecute that fully.”

Austrac’s move to bring proceedings against CBA rattled Australia’s financial services sector, and the bank was hit even harder. CBA’s chief executive, Ian Narev, had his bonus scrapped as result and is set to retire by next June amid harsh criticism from investors and regulators.