SkyCity: Corporate governance crackdown, money clawback

SkyCity Adelaide - subject of looming court action. Photo / Joe Nes

SkyCity Entertainment has revealed a governance “reset” that includes new measures to claw back money from executives who do wrong, at the same time as it plans to increase the amount of money available to pay director fees.

The governance shakeup comes at the same time as the company href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/skycity-entertainment-group-facing-court-proceedings-today-from-australian-regulator/KKEVIMXU55AOVK3CDF4MXEFPMA/" target="_blank">faces court action from an Australian regulator for alleged failures in Adelaide, accused of “systemic failures” in how it countered illegal activities. The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre is taking it to court. Austrac is the federal agency responsible for detecting, deterring and disrupting criminal abuse of the financial system to protect the community from serious and organised crime.

In a corporate governance document released to the NZX today, the Australasian casino giant has told how “in severe situations”, it is now able to recover short-term and long-term incentives paid to bosses if it needed to.

“Clawback is the recovery of variable remuneration that has already vested or been paid, typically only considered in severe situations,” the company said under the headline “executive remuneration - number of additions to plans in last two years”.

The company also announced today plans to up directors’ fees, saying “an intention of board is to propose an increase in fee pool at the AGM in October”.

It didn’t say how much more the board, chaired by Julian Cook, would get.

But it did specify its current fee pool for directors as $1.44m and noted the last increase in the fees was five years ago in 2018, when fees rose 5 per cent from $1.36m.

The company has appointed a chief risk officer and says it has “stronger board oversight of key assurances areas for financial crime and anti-money laundering, host responsibility, health and safety”.

Peter Soros, Austrac deputy chief executive, said in December last year: “Investigations into SkyCity had found systemic failures in its approach to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations ... [and] identified a range of circumstances where SkyCity failed to carry out appropriate ongoing customer due diligence. SkyCity also failed to develop and maintain a compliant AML/CTF programme, leaving it at risk of criminal exploitation.”

Analysts are factoring in a potential A$50 million ($54.5m) of fines from after state and federal investigations - but say this might be conservative and more might need to be paid.

Jarden analysts Adrian Allbon and Jason Cao said last year this was the amount they anticipated might be due in 2024 from the business.

SkyCity Adelaide allegedly allowed customers to spend “dirty money” that appeared to have been wet and previously buried, according to documents lodged in the Federal Court of Australia last year.

Customers posing a high money laundering or terrorism financing risk engaged in big-time cash transactions, allegedly using cash in plastic bags, garbage bags, cash bundled together with rubber bands or irregular straps, dirty notes and even cash that appeared to have been buried.

Austrac is suing the casino operator for “serious noncompliance” with anti-money laundering laws and failing to monitor telltale signs of money laundering.

This is Austrac’s third live civil court case against a casino group this year, after cases against Australia’s Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment.

A SkyCity Adelaide cashier “struggled to count the notes which appeared to be wet or dirty” and a customer “engaged in large and unusual transactions and patterns of transactions which had no apparent economic or visible lawful purpose”.

Austrac claimed some transactions involved large amounts of cash and cash that appeared to be wet and dirty, and the casino exchanged those dirty notes for cash chips.

Shares in the company are today trading on the NZX around $2.26, down 15 per cent annually to give a $1.7b market cap.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 23 years, has won many awards, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.