ASIC sues Westpac for insider trading over Ausgrid trades Save Share Westpac is considering taking on the corporate watchdog after it filed proceedings in the Federal Court alleging the bank’s interest rate traders engaged in insider trading ahead of the monster $16 billion Ausgrid privatisation in October 2016. The Sydney based lender – which has been battered and bruised after years of rolling scandals – was hit by Wednesday’s civil proceedings just days after chief executive Peter King won the sharemarket over with his plan to streamline the bank. While Westpac will be keen to avoid another stoush with regulators, the seriousness of the allegations lobbed at it by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission means the bank is mulling whether or not to defend itself by seeking to demonstrate that the bank was acting in the interest of its clients.