Victoria Police Arrest Four People at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank's Branch While Investigating Alleged Money Laundering, Media Reports Say

MT Newswires Live
Dec 05, 2025

Victoria Police said they arrested four people at one of Bendigo and Adelaide Bank's (ASX:BEN) branches as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering on Sept. 2, according to multiple media reports on Friday.

The four people were released, but the investigation is ongoing.

On Sept. 9, the chairman of the bank's Pinewood community branch in Melbourne, Robert Davies, told shareholders the branch would be temporarily closing, The Australian Financial Review reported. The branch later notified shareholders that the franchise agreement between the Pinewood branch and the lender had ended.

Around 280 of Bendigo's 400 or so branches are community branches, franchise-style partnerships owned and run by local organizations, The Australian said.

The bank had said earlier that a review conducted by Deloitte found deficiencies in the lender's approach to the identification, mitigation, and management of money laundering and terrorism financing risks that existed throughout the period between Aug. 1, 2019, and Aug. 1.

The probe found that the shortcomings extended beyond just one branch, identifying weaknesses and deficiencies across many key aspects of money laundering/terrorism financing risk management. It had reported suspicious activity at one of its branches to the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center.

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