The Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has settled a debanking case brought against it by a Bitcoin trading platform operator. The trader, Allan Flynn, had accused the banking institution of discrimination following the closure of his bank accounts in 2018 and 2019 based on him operating a crypto trading business.
Mr Flynn launched the case with the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal against the ANZ and Westpac accusing them of similar charges.
ANZ has since confirmed they have settled the matter with Flynn without any liability. They’ve also allowed him to reapply for another account in the future as he was not subject to a lifetime ban. The bank said in its statement, “The parties have agreed to resolve their dispute and Mr Flynn has withdrawn his ACAT claim. Mr Flynn has not been paid any compensation.”
The bank also went ahead to confirm that they had closed Mr Flynn’s bank accounts in 2018 and 2019 in line with its policies that exempt it from banking with digital currency operators. Given Flynn was operating a cryptocurrency operation through its ANZ bank accounts, closing his accounts was the right thing to do.
While Flynn had accused the ANZ of discrimination based on his profession, the bank used Section 57N of the ACT discrimination Act in its defence. The Act states it’s not unlawful to discriminate against a person based on their trade or profession if the transaction is relevant to the person’s trade.
In the statement, ANZ also reiterated its firm stand on ensuring customer protection. The statement read in part, “In 2014, ANZ adopted a policy directed at identifying, mitigating and managing the risk that ANZ may face of its customers and services being involved in or facilitating money laundering or terrorism funding (ML/TF),”
Given its policies, the bank could allow any account on the platform to offer crypto-related services. However, the bank is still open to allowing Flynn to run an account with them based on the prevailing policies at that point. Given that he was not handed a lifetime ban, the previous account closures will not affect any future application.
Flynn, though, is yet to comment on matter due to the ongoing similar case against Westpac.
What are the ramifications of the settlement on the Australian crypto landscape?
At the moment, the Australian crypto landscape remains one of the world’s most vibrant. The crypto market has seen massive growth in recent times. For example, there has been a 186% growth of Australian crypto retailers in 2021. At the same time, access to crypto is growing with the first ETF assets getting launched.
The only major challenge remains the lack of clarity in regulations. While crypto is legal in the country, most of the entities get debanked due to a lack of clear regulations from both the crypto entitled and traditional banking facilities.
The good news though, is that the senate has been collecting views on ways to make Australia a crypto hub. This means better crypto regulations in the country are on the way. The amicable ANZ settlement has already shown there’s a need for clearer rules.