Westpac announces a gaint raise in software capitalisation threshold
Summary
Westpac has announced a change in software capitalisation policy, as well as expectations that statutory net profit for 2021 first half year (1H21) will be reduced due to "notable items". "This policy has been applied from 1 October 2020 and will see the group expense a higher portion of its investment spending from first half 2021," Westpac said. According to the bank, the loss, however, will be partially offset by its investment gains in Coinbase, a San Francisco-based online platform for buying, selling, transferring, and storing digital currency, and Zip Co that are expected to deliver around AU$288 million and AU$18 million, respectively. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (Austrac) came to an agreement with Westpac last September to settle the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing allegations that were raised by the watchdog in November 2019. Customers not acting in line with Westpacs policy for acceptable behaviour will be warned and if necessary, exited from the bank.