Perth Mint cuts dividend as compliance fix-up bill pushes it into the red

Perth Mint has scrapped its usual dividend to the State Government after the hefty cost of fixing an embarrassing litany of compliance failures pulled the country’s biggest precious metals refiner to a rare loss. The State-owned group finished $10.9 million in the red in the year to June 30, according to new accounts filed in Parliament, having made $36.8m the previous year when it returned $27.6m in dividends to the Government’s coffers. Perth Mint blamed the loss on a $34m program to rectify breaches of anti-money laundering laws, as well as an increased $12.3m provision to cover environmental clean-up bills at its State batteries. The group avoided a hefty fine last November by agreeing an enforceable undertaking with financial crimes watchdog AUSTRAC to address its compliance shortcomings by April 2025. The agreement includes outside six-month audits of its remediation program, which also cover a review of more than 70,000 customers on its books to eliminate any with criminal links. Perth Mint chairman Sam Walsh said in the group’s annual report that his board had been “unwavering in our commitment to implement the necessary changes to allow the mint to maintain its mantle as a highly regarded and respected organisation”. The changes have been rolled out by a new management team led by chief executive Paul Graham, who took the mint’s reins in November after Jason Waters left to run Perth Airport. Finding “an organisation that needed to rebuild its confidence”, Mr Graham said in the annual report that the remediation program to fix and modernise the mint’s systems and processes had been “significant (and) far-reaching”. “Completing these important programs remains my priority.” The mint said the loss didn’t fully reflect operating performance, noting it recorded an operating profit of $6.94m for the year once the AUSTRAC remediation and battery clean-up costs were excluded. However, trading conditions were also hurt by weaker sales of bullion products as record gold prices and cost-of-living pressures deterred customers from buying minted products. Sales of bullion products more than halved to 8.59 million coins and other products from a near-record 19.7 million a year earlier.