AUSTRALIA'S BIGGEST BANK REJECTS LAUNDERING CLAIMS

*Australia's biggest bank rejects fresh laundering claims*.

Australia's largest bank the Commonwealth last Friday denied a slew of new claims by country's financial intelligence agency that it breached-

Anti-money laundering laws, and rejected a major class action over the allegations.

The lender, Australia's biggest company by market capitalisation, has had a torrid few months amid a flurry of action by regulators. They include a court case filed by financial intelligence agency AUSTRAC in August that alleged the bank engaged in -

''Serious and systemic non-compliance'' of anti-money laundering laws involving thousands of  transactions.

AUSTRAC in December filed 100 other claims regarding the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's [CBA] alleged failure to disclose suspicious transactions on time, or not all.

The maximum penalty for each breach is up to Aus$21 million [US$ 16 million].

In response to the additional claims, the bank last Friday admitted 11 allegations in part and denied  89 in full.

''We understand that we play a key role in law enforcement and we take our anti - money laundering  and counter terrorism financing allegations extremely seriously,'' the bank added.

CBA last year admitted to the late submission of 53,506 reports to AUSTRAC for cash transactions of Aus$10,000 or more at ATMs, but said Friday they ''should be treated as a single course of conduct''.

[Agencies].