KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates resigns over investigation into whistleblower's claims firm was misusing client data

By KAAREN MORRISSEY FOR AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: 03:13, 29 May 2026 | Updated: 03:13, 29 May 2026 A major financial services firm is in the sights of the corporate regulator over the conduct of a few of its registered auditors, following whistleblower allegations. Confirmation of an investigation came during a federal parliament joint committee hearing on Friday morning attended by Australian Securities and Investments Commission commissioners, including chair Joe Longo. The commissioners, including deputy chair Sarah Court, Kate O'Rourke, and head of enforcement and compliance Chris Savundra, were being questioned by committee chair and Labor senator Deborah O'Neill. Senator O'Neill referred, under parliamentary privilege, to a letter received by the committee from Lendlease chief executive Tony Lombardo, which she then tabled. The letter, she told the hearing, discussed KPMG personnel on the audit team for the major developer 'retaining and utilising access to audit tender pictures in Lendlease board papers to inform their tender for Westpac's audit'. 'Lendlease described these actions as 'not acceptable',' Senator O'Neill said. Around the same time, media outlets, including the Australian Financial Review, began reporting that KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates had resigned, attracting the attention of committee members. He's reportedly leaving immediately over KPMG's failure to deal with allegations of client data misuse. KPMG Australia chief executive Andrew Yates (pictured) has resigned A KPMG office in Perth is pictured KPMG's head of audit, Julian McPherson, is also stepping away, the reports said. AAP has sought a statement from KPMG Australia. Asked for his response, Mr Longo said there appeared to be a breach of what would normally occur between an auditor and a client. 'As the letter itself points out, this is something that Lendlease and KPMG are going to have to sort out between themselves,' he told the committee. 'No doubt there will be some further action that Lendlease will expect KPMG to take to ensure this doesn't happen again.' Senator O'Neill posited that the allegations would raise alarm amongst users of KPMG's registered company auditor services, including the federal government. 'I can confirm that ASIC has commenced investigations, a preliminary investigation, into the allegations about the conduct of a number of registered company auditors at the firm KPMG,' commissioner Kate O'Rourke told the hearing. She stressed the investigation related to the auditors rather than the firm itself. It's believed three are involved. 'We commenced these inquiries after a meeting with KPMG on the 14th of April, and then after receiving further anonymised, in that case, information in writing, from KPMG, on the 29th of April.' Mr Yates (pictured) is reportedly leaving immediately over KPMG's failure to deal with allegations of client data misuse KPMG has also been conducting its own investigation. 'We have issued a number of notices to KPMG for production of information,' Ms Court said. 'We have been informed by KPMG that they intend to claim legal professional privilege.' The hearing in Canberra continues. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.