Australian major Banking group Westpac is the most sustainable bank of Australia acc. to Dow Jones 2019 Sustainability indices. But in recent times, it has been in turbulence regarding its crypto-related policies.
A couple of weeks back, Westpac has sent a warning letter to Rewards4U cofounder David Jenkins, which mentions that the bank is closing down their business account consisting of $1million funds by September 30. The letter mentions no justification for the closure of the account.
Reward4U
Rewards4U is an Australian startup that runs a blockchain loyalty rewards program for loyal retail shopping customers across the world. The program provides customers a convenient crypto wallet, to store the earned points which can be exchanged at the member crypto exchanges. The member exchanges which accepts their rewards points are P2PB2B, BTCEXA, and Xrates.
The Rewards4U tokens are widely accepted at various business outlets.Rewards4U hasn’t been entangled in any illegitimate activity so far and is registered with AUSTRAC. It is also a legitimate member of the Blockchain Chamber of Comm. (BCC) and Blockchain Australia (ADCA).
A formal complaint has been filed to the financial regulatory body. The activity will hamper the transactions of Rewards4U with other associated banks including Bank of Melbourne, SA Bank, Rams BT Financial group, and St George as well.
Australian strict regulatory Crypto policy
Cryptocurrencies and crypto exchanges are legal in Australia and the country has been progressive in implementation of cryptocurrency regulations.
Though Australia has this progressive and friendly approach towards crypto-related businesses, many banks have refrained themselves from crypto businesses like commonwealth, Bank of Australia (COA), Suncorp, etc. owing to their conservative policies.
The recent developments in crypto-related businesses
Westpac and their subsidiary banks, including Bank SA, Bank of Melbourne, and St. George Bank have a strict monitoring policy over crypto payments, but owing to the growing threat of fraudulent activities, Westpac might have warned the crypto firm to shut down their account.
In the last couple of years, most of the crypto-related businesses in Australia have been in turmoil, including major crypto exchange Coinspot, which was forced to stop operations in 2018.
Earlier this year, another major Australian bank NAB, closed down the business account of a crypto exchange in Australia ‘myCryptoWallet ‘without any valid justification.
A management consultant and former Westpac Banker, Rod Tusker doesn’t find this act as a conspiracy by the competitors, but he remarks it as a preventive measure to restrict money laundering and financial terrorism.
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