LONDON: Australia's ANZ Group plans to "get to the bottom" of allegations of misconduct that have been raised against its bond trading operations and will hold people accountable for any wrongdoing, its CEO said in an email to staff.
The email, a copy of which has been reviewed by Reuters on Friday, comes after media reports that the lender had overstated the value of government bonds that it traded by more than A$50 billion (US$33.81 billion) over a one-year period.
Chief Executive Officer Shayne Elliott and Group Executive, Institutional Mark Whelan admitted to staff that the fundamental allegations were not "new."
The company has hired external lawyers to help the investigations into the claims and improve workplace culture at the operations headed by Whelan, according to the email.
"As we have said publicly, we are co-operating fully with our regulators and we will systematically get to the bottom of these issues," Elliott and Whelan wrote in the email.
An ANZ spokesperson declined to respond to a question by Reuters about whether the overstated figure of A$50 billion was accurate.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the country's corporate watchdog, has been investigating the bank's 10-year treasury sale last year, but the regulator has declined from publicly commenting on the bond trade allegations.
"The discrepancies and the need for a probe do raise questions about the leadership and operations at the bank," said Tim Waterer, market analyst at KCM Trade.
"So, from a confidence standpoint, ANZ may have taken a hit."
ANZ has told the Australian Office of Financial Management that the data of the government bond sales was incorrect, the Australian Financial Review reported on Thursday.
"It's still a bit early to tell what if any the implications will be. We have seen other banks cope fairly hefty fines for similar matters," added Waterer.
Shares in ANZ shares rose as much as 1.3 per cent to A$29.73 on Friday.