Westpac’s CEO has apologised to a customer after the bank froze his accounts and blocked a transfer when he tried to use his savings to invest in cryptocurrency.
Earlier this month, Tim deposited $80,000 into his Westpac account before transferring $50,000 to CoinSpot – Australia’s cryptocurrency exchange platform.
Tim had planned to assess the market before choosing how to invest his money, with the intent of investing in Bitcoin.
He received a text message from Westpac alerting him that the transfer had been blocked and advised him to contact their risk management team.
Tim decided to record his phone conversion with the representative and played the audio for Ben Fordham on 2GB radio.
In the clip, the representative explained to Tim that when he signed on as a customer he had agreed to the bank’s terms and conditions.
‘You’re the bank, you’ve got my money. I want my money back,’ Tim demanded.
The staff member replied: ‘We’re not going to be able to facilitate this payment if you’re not forthcoming and honest with us.’
Westpac’s CEO has apologised to a customer after the bank froze his accounts and blocked a transfer when he tried to use his savings to invest in cryptocurrency (stock)
Tim deposited $80,000 into his Westpac account before transferring $50,000 to CoinSpot – Australia’s cryptocurrency exchange platform (pictured, a Westpac branch)
Tim urged the staff member to ask the required questions for the transfer, who replied: ‘I want to get to my next questions but I am still incredibly concerned that you are not able to give me a clear answer.
‘You keep coming back to the fact that you’re just going to invest in Bitcoin, but it depends on what happens over the weekend.’
Tim interjected: ‘I’m going to buy Bitcoin. Next question’.
Not satisfied with the response the staff member replied: ‘Now you’re just giving me that answer to just give me an answer.
‘I am genuinely trying my best to help you out as best as possible. I feel as though, so far, you are trying to tiptoe around the answers and simply tell me what you think I want to hear to have this pushed through as soon as possible.’
Tim explained once again that he planned to invest in Bitcoin but he was waiting to see if the price spiked – in which case he would transfer the money back to Westpac.
He accepted that it was a ‘grey answer’, but he did intend to invest in cryptocurrency, to which the staff member replied it ‘wasn’t adding up’.
To make matters worse, a Westpac executive accidentally left Tim a voice message which was intended for the staff member that handled his call.
Westpac CEO Anthony Miller (picture) apologised live on air to a customer after the bank froze his accounts and blocked a transfer he was trying to make for a Bitcoin investment
The executive is heard praising the staffer for handling the phone call ‘brilliantly’.
‘I’m really sorry about that experience you had having your call played on the radio. I just wanted to let you know that I wouldn’t be prouder of you and the work your doing and I thought you handled the call brilliantly,’ she said.
‘So I just wanted to say thank you and I’m sorry you had that experience… I’m really proud to have you in the team.’
Following the phone conversation, Tim claimed Westpac froze his account and blocked his online access leaving him without money for almost a week.
Tim added that the Bitcoin that he planned to invest in ended up increasing in value, meaning he lost thousands of dollars due to Westpac’s refusal to transfer his money.
Westpac CEO Anthony Miller has since apologised to Tim over the situation.
‘We didn’t get it right. We apologise to Tim and I’m apologising now to Tim that it didn’t quite work as we wanted,’ he told 2GB radio on Thursday.
Mr Miller explained Westpac had an obligation to protect its customers and said last month the bank found one in five cryptocurrency or Bitcoin transfers were scams.
‘We’ve got a real priority to make sure our customers understand it’s a really dangerous, murky area to participate in and so we’re trying to do the right thing by the customers,’ Mr Miller said.
Tim has since closed his Westpac account and moved his money to another bank (stock)
‘Of course, we didn’t quite get that one right and again I apologise for that.’
Mr Miller said the executive was one of Westpac’s best and that she was trying to do the right thing by supporting her staff member who felt he didn’t do a good job.
When asked about the staff member’s style of questioning, Mr Miller admitted work needed to be done to help improve Westpac’s interaction with its customers.
‘We can certainly improve our delivery on that one and there’s no doubt that we’ll look at more coaching. We also need to be more sensitive to customers, it’s their money, we completely understand,’ he said.
‘It’s a responsibility that we have to really make sure that they understand there is a risk there when dealing in areas like crypto.’
Tim has since closed his Westpac account and moved his money to another bank.
