Crown board shakeup as Barangaroo inquiry looms - James Packer confidante John Alexander steps down as executive chairman

James Packer's Crown Casino empire has shaken up its boardroom governance as the company faces down a high stakes inquiry by the New South Wales gaming regulator.

A key change involves the retirement of Crown executive chairman and Packer confidante John Alexander who's being replaced by the former Howard government minister Helen Coonan. 

ABC's Peter Ryan says the move by Crown comes as the gaming giant confronts concerns about its boardroom governance.

"Hundreds" of Australians caught in global swoop as tax agencies target financial institution in Central America

Potentially hundreds of Australian tax avoiders using a dodgy bank in Central America could face civil or criminal charges after a global investigation into money laundering and tax evasion. 

Tax agencies from the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands targeted a financial institution operating in multiple countries that allegedly uses a sophisticated system to conceal and transfer wealth anonymously to launder the proceeds of crime. 

ATO assistant commissioner Brett Martin tells ABC's Peter Ryan that Australians using the scheme could face criminal or civil charges.

"Westpac is in really good shape apart from some sustained damage on the regulatory side" -- new Westpac chairman John McFarlane upbeat in face of money laundering scandal

Source: supplied by Westpac

Westpac has named veteran banker John McFarlane as its next chairman as it confronts the fallout from a massive money laundering scandal revealed last November. 

Read the story here

Mr McFarlane is a former chief executive of the ANZ Bank and was chairman of British bank Barclays until May last year. 

Here's my analysis from The World Today

NAB trustees hit with class action for 'mismanaging' retirement savings

National Australia Bank's superannuation trustees have been hit with a new class action for allegedly ripping off more than 330,000 clients by failing to move them into lower cost default products. 

Plaintiff law firm Maurice Blackburn filed the case in the Victorian Supreme Court on Wednesday, claiming that two of NAB's super trustees breached their duties and failed to act in the best interests of clients. 

Maurice Blackburn head of class actions speaks with ABC's Peter Ryan.

Barangaroo casino inquiry raises Stanley Ho's criminal links as a potential "close associate"

The alleged criminal links of one-time Macau casino magnate Stanley Ho are being probed at a special inquiry into the Crown gaming empire's licence to operate a restricted casino at Barangaro in Sydney. 

Counsel assisting the inquiry Adam Bell has outlined the definition of who could be a "close associate" of the casino as a result of James Packer's proposed share sale ag to Stanley Ho's son Lawrence Ho - the chairman and chief executive of Melco Resorts.

ABC's Peter Ryan says the outcome of the inquiry is high stakes for James Packer and could scupper the sale deal with Melco Resorts.

High stakes for James Packer as Barangaroo casino inquiry begins

James Packer's relationship with Macau casino magnate Lawrence Ho will be in the spotlight when a high stakes inquiry gets underway in Sydney later this morning. 

New South Wales gaming regulators will probe Lawrence Ho's links to his 98-year-old father Stanley Ho who in the past has been linked to organised crime in Hong Kong and outlawed from having any association with Crown's operation of the Barangaroo casino in Sydney. 

ABC's Peter Ryan says the inquiry was sparked after Mr Packer surprised investors when he proposed a controversial $1.7 billion dollar share sale to Lawrence Ho's Melco group last year.