Should Westpac sack the $8m woman?

21 July 2009

1 minute read

The Kiwi Westpac worker responsible for a blunder which cost the bank A$8.05m reckons she is about to be "managed out" of her job.

Her decimal point error led to customer Leo Gao getting a multi-million dollar overdraft facility. Gao transferred some of the money overseas and has since fled to China. His girlfriend, business partner and mother have also disappeared.

Surely Westpac would be in the right to let her go? After all, the mistake has proven hugely embarrassing, not to mention costly, for the bank.

Or would firing her be an overreaction to a simple and unintentional error for a woman who has, according to New Zealand's Sunday Star-Times, more than 30 years' banking experience. The paper also quotes sources who say she might lose her house if sacked and would find it hard to get another job.

When should a mistake cost you your job? Let us know below.

AUTHOReFinancialCareers Gulf

Insider Comment

ch
chilaxn1
4 August 2009
"Recently, I was asked if I going to fire an employee who made a mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent $600,000 training him." - Quote from Thomas J. Watson, founder of IBM
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Sh
Shandy
29 July 2009
If an $8million transaction can be processed by one person with no other authorisation requirements or checks in place, you'd really have to wonder how secure their whole banking system is...
how many staff could be perhaps moving funds around fraudulently?
And from a banking point of view, would not there have been a corresponding debit to be processed with this credit for $8million...
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mi
mickw1967
24 July 2009
I agree with the comments above. There are checks and balances in place in banks. Surely the checking officer should also take some of the blame. In todays high paced baning industry where there are less employees doing more work this type of clerical error will continue to occur. The party the Bank should be chasing is the one who benefitted the most from this, their client. The employee should be admonished for their error but not penalised to the extent that they more lose their job and therefore potentially their home. Most Bnaks make a provision for bad debts and losses so it would seem that they expect to lose some funds throughout the course of the year.
Give the worker a fair go.
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?
?
24 July 2009
What about the fool who designed the system without any checking or verification?
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pa
pakhs
24 July 2009
Was there no system / authority process dedicated to drafting large funds? Alongside the worker that made the error, Westpac's banking authority process is questionable. Sacking her wouldnt solve the problem as the proof is in the pudding - there is a process gap and until that is mitigated there will be errors like this one no matter how skilled the person is. Humans make mistakes.
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